


Travelling in a Wibbly Wobbly Liney Whiney

by fandomlver



Series: It's All About the Journey [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Gen, wibbly wobbly timey wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-26
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-15 02:50:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/522322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomlver/pseuds/fandomlver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The continuing adventures of Luke, Dawn, and their motley crew of demon fighters, alien fighters, time travellers, nerds, and genetically engineered energy manipulators.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything you will recognise in here.

Travelling in a wibbly wobbly liney whiney

"Luke, are you expecting company?"

"My kind, your kind or in general?"

"Your kind."

He considered for a moment. "No. I haven't heard anything. Why do you ask?"

"I could be wrong," Dawn warned him. "But I'm outside your building, and I think I'm looking at the TARDIS."

"Don't go near it," he told her. "I'll be there as soon as I can." Hanging up, he looked apologetically at Sanjay. "Sorry. Dawn's in my room and she says my computer's smoking."

"Luke, if I had a girlfriend like Dawn I'd blow off study when she called too. I'll talk to you later." Luke blushed – it had been a few months, but he still wasn't used to hearing Dawn described as his girlfriend – and hurried off, stuffing his things into his bag.

As he walked he dialled his room, waiting through his own greeting. "K9?"

"Yes, Master Luke?"

"Dawn says the TARDIS is outside the building."

K9 beeped for a moment. "Yes, Master Luke."

"It's definitely the TARDIS?"

"Readings match all previous recordings. Percentage of error, less than zero point zero zero zero zero..."

"Got it," Luke interrupted him. "Thanks. Keep your scanners active. Let me know if anything changes." Hanging up, he dialled again. "Hey, Sky."

"Hi Luke. How's Dawn?"

She made kissy noises down the phone and he laughed. Sky was integrating into human life far better than he had or ever would. "Shut up. Are you at home?"

"Yes, but Sarah Jane's not here."

"Doesn't matter – in fact, that's better. Do me a favour, activate Mr Smith?"

"Right. Is something wrong?"

He could hear Clyde in the background, asking the same thing. "No. At least, I don't think so. Are you there?"

"Mr Smith, I need you!"

"Luke, what's going on?" Clyde added.

"Nothing yet." He raised a hand as he reached the green in front of his building; Dawn waved back, jogging towards him. The TARDIS was tucked into an alcove and, as normal, everyone passing by was completely oblivious to it. "Mr Smith, did you know the TARDIS is here?"

"Is it?" Sky asked. "Clyde, did you know?"

"Nah, I have to be right up next to it for anything to happen."

"TARDIS presence confirmed," Mr Smith announced.

"I'm looking at it, Mr Smith. I know it's here. How did it get past us?"

"Have you approached it, Luke?"

"Not yet. Keep an eye out in case it vanishes or something, please."

"Luke, you're sure you wanna go near it?" Clyde asked.

"He hasn't come looking, so it can't be anything serious. And I'd rather go in there after him than have him running around Oxford."

"You sure?"

"He'd have gone to you guys, or to Torchwood, if anything was really wrong. I'm sure of that. I have to go. Don't call Mum yet, I'll call you back in a little while."

"Do you want us to call the Council?"

Luke mouthed 'Council' at Dawn, who shook her head. "No, thanks, Sky. Dawn's done that. I'll call you in a little bit."

"Make sure you do," Clyde told him.

"Bye, Clyde."

"Well?" Dawn asked, linking her fingers through his. "Is it really him?"

"It's really the TARDIS, but no one knew he was coming."

"What do you think?" She leaned against him, eyeing the silent TARDIS. "I kind of wish Connor was here."

"Nothing dangerous can come out of there. Nothing gets in without the Doctor's permission and no one else can fly it except him."

"You're not very convincing."

"Sorry."

"You wish he was here too."

"Kind of, yeah." Luke had been learning, and Dawn had known for years, but Connor was still a better fighter than both of them put together. "How is he, anyway?"

"You're stalling. Are we going into your friend's space stroke time ship or not?"

"He's not really my friend, we've only met twice." He debated trying to talk her into staying back but decided it wasn't worth the fight. She wouldn't let him walk in there alone anyway. Taking a breath, he eyed the TARDIS. "Andrew would never forgive us."

"Never ever," she agreed.

"Come on." Holding her hand tightly, Luke led her into the TARDIS.

 

 

"Finally," Kennedy complained. "I thought the point of an emergency phone was that in an emergency, you answer it."

"Whadda you wand, Kennedy? I'b sick."

"So I hear. Where is everyone?"

"There's only Andrew, ad he wend to buy lebon. Whad do you wand?"

"Captain wants to talk to you."

"I can'd flird right now." Xander held the phone away as he sneezed heavily.

Kennedy waited patiently until he'd finished blowing his nose. "He says it's important."

"He would," Xander muttered. At least the sneeze had cleared his sinuses a little. "All right, put him on. Tell him if he tries anything I'm gonna hang up. Or sneeze on the phone. One or the other."

"Got it," Kennedy agreed.

There was some rustling before Jack said cheerfully, "Want me to come kiss you better, Xander?"

"Yeah, let's get Ianto mad at me and give Wales' premier alien fighting team the flu at the same time."

"You say the sweetest things."

"Why are you on my phone, Captain?"

"Oh. The Doctor's in Oxford."

"What?" Xander sat up, trying to ignore the way the room spun around him.

"Well, the TARDIS is in Oxford. And since the emergency destination is Leadford at the moment, I'm assuming he's in it. I thought you might like to check in with Dawn."

"Thanks."

"Anything for you, sweetheart."

"Go away." He hung up, concentrating for a moment before dialling Dawn's number. It rang out and he cursed, dialling again.

"Do you want super soft or balm?"

It took him a moment to follow that. "Forget the tissues, Andrew."

"You say that now, but when your nose is all dried out and scaly..."

"Andrew. Have you heard from Dawn?"

Andrew paused; Xander could hear him swallow nervously. "Recently?"

"Today. Probably in the last..." Xander stopped, rubbing his face. "She called, and you went out so you wouldn't have to talk to me."

"That sounds like deceit, which is certainly not something someone on the side of good would do," Andrew said hurriedly. "And I'm in the checkout line so I really should go."

"Well, if you're in the checkout line you'll be home soon. I guess I can ask you then."

Another long silence followed before Andrew hissed dramatically "I'll call you back."

"You'd better."

 

He called Dawn again, though he wasn't expecting her to answer and wasn't surprised when she didn't. He tried Luke as well, just for the sake of it, still not surprised when it wasn't answered. He called Rachel, one of the slayers on campus and Dawn's unofficial guard, but she'd been in class and didn't know anything. He told her to keep an eye out and hung up to answer Andrew's call.

"She threatened me."

"Andrew."

"She played on my natural sympathy for you in your weakened state."

"Andrew..."

"She said it was nothing but you'd just fret..."

"Andrew!"

Andrew sighed. "There s no need to yell, Xander. And it's bad for you."

"Yeah." Xander coughed, trying to ignore the spike of pain in his throat. "Where's Dawn?"

"Oxford."

"She's not answering her phone."

"Well, Oxford, or somewhere in the boundless regions of space and time."

"Andrew," he said on a sigh.

"She saw the TARDIS near Luke's dorm. No one went in or out while she was watching. She promised not to go near it, she was going to wait for Luke."

"And what was she planning to do when Luke got there?"

"Um, I don't..."

"Andrew. If Luke goes into the TARDIS what do you think Dawn will do?"

"Follow him," Andrew said reluctantly.

"Right. Get back here, we have to go."

"But..."

"Back here now. And just be glad Buffy's in Asia. I wouldn't give much for your chances otherwise."

"Yes, boss," Andrew agreed miserably.

Xander hung up and took a moment to breath before turning to his computer, set up on his side table. The program he wanted was sitting on the desk top and he switched it on, typing carefully _'Mr Smith?'_

_'Yes, Xander'_ appeared on the screen.

_'We're going to Oxford. Please let us know if anything changes.'_

_'Done. Do not worry, Luke is with Dawn.'_

Xander squashed his first response to that, instead typing 'thanks' and turning it off. "Great thing about computers," he mused, "you don't have to bother with the social niceties."

He thought about that for a moment, adding, "Of course, I thanked him."

"And called him a him."

"I need clothes."

 

It wasn't the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS.

Luke hadn't really expected it would be. The Doctor usually came to them and to Torchwood in chronological order, and he'd already met the Eleventh. But he'd never seen inside his TARDIS, and he wasn't sure what to expect.

It wasn't that different from the console room he'd seen before. The console itself was raised off the floor; a man was lounging on the ramp, watching them. "Hey. Luke, right?"

"Rory Williams," Luke said carefully.

He grinned. "Nice to have my own name. Doctor!" He stamped on the floor a couple of times. "Your guests are here!"

"Guests? Plural? I don't remember sending out invites!"

Luke edged to one side until he could see the Doctor, hanging from a harness and working on the underside of the raised floor. "Doctor."

"With you in a minute, Luke!"

Rory shrugged when Luke looked back at him. "He's been fiddling down there for ages."

"Where's Amy?"

"Around. Looking for the library, I think. She does that whenever she gets bored. Hi," he added to Dawn. "Rory."

"Dawn."

"Oh, but you're beautiful."

They turned to see the Doctor pulling off his goggles, staring at Dawn. "Gorgeous," he said again. "Rory, isn't she beautiful?"

"I'd answer that, but my wife's on board," Rory told her, and she grinned.

"No, really! Look at that colour!"

Luke felt Dawn tense. Taking a half a step forward, he said quickly, "Why are you in Oxford, Doctor? Is something wrong?"

"Can you see that colour, Luke?" he continued as though he hadn't heard.

"I know who Dawn is," he said carefully. "Don't," he added, plucking the screwdriver out of the Doctor's hand.

"But look at that! Fabulous work, by the way, kudos to the workmen..."

"Doctor," Luke said firmly. "We're leaving."

"No, don't, I'm over it. Bored now, no one likes green anyway, have you met Rory? Rory, have you met the beautiful young woman, and Luke?"

"Yes." Rory came down to join them anyway, shaking Dawn's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. You're a..."

"Companion," Luke murmured when she faltered.

"Really? Is that what we're calling it now?" the Doctor protested, swinging up the ramp to examine a screen hanging above the console.

"I like it," Rory said thoughtfully.

"So do I, it's great. Luke, how have you been? No – issues?" He waggled his eyebrows ridiculously.

"No issues, thank you," Luke agreed. "Are you just here to ask me that?"

"What? No." He leaned against the console, watching them.

"Doctor," Luke said warily, "what are you doing here?"

"That's a very philosophical question, and it deserves some deep thought. We should ponder that. What are any of us doing here, when you get right down to it?"

"What are you doing here in Oxford?" Luke asked patiently.

Dawn turned suddenly, crossing to the door and pulling it open. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"He isn't in Oxford."

"Excuse me?"

"He isn't in Oxford. Neither are we. I'm not quite sure where we are, actually. Why aren't we decompressing?"

"Atmospheric bubble extending around the TARDIS," the Doctor called down. "You're very calm."

"It's Tuesday," she said with a shrug. "Where are we?"

"I could tell you the numbers if they'd mean anything to you."

"They would to him." She gestured to Luke.

"It didn't make any noise," Luke murmured.

"Blue boringers." The Doctor bounced back down to join them. "Not to worry, Sexy'll have you back before anyone knows you're gone."

"Everyone knows you're here, Doctor. I called home and Dawn called her council. Mr Smith and K9 were watching you. They know we're gone already."

"Not to fret, we'll be back."

"Where are we going?"

"I promised Clyde a trip. And I thought you'd want to come."

Luke glanced at Rory, who shrugged. "He told us he was stopping for milk."

"Milk, did I say milk? Can't think why. I don't even like milk. Cows, yuck."

"Yeah, I did think that was odd," Rory agreed.

"And you didn't complain?"

"Complaining never does any good, you don't listen to me anyway."

"Rory the Roman, I listen to every single word you say. I just ignore some of them. So! Where's Clyde, Luke?"

"He's in Bannerman Road, but school's not finished yet, Doctor." Luke moved up the ramp, eyeing the controls. "What's this?"

"You tell me." The Doctor leaned against the console, watching him.

"They'll be a while," Dawn murmured. "Rory, right?"

"That's me."

"How long have you been with the Doctor?"

"Dunno. What year is it? Anyway, it's not the same in here."

Dawn smiled faintly, glancing up as Luke poked at a control and the Doctor slapped his hand away. "You know Luke?"

"By reputation. We've never met, but the Doctor seems very fond of his mother."

"So I've heard. Did you really not know where we were going?"

"Knowing doesn't really help, it's really better to just go with the flow."

"Hey."

Rory looked up, grinning. "Dawn, this is my wife Amy. Amy, Dawn is Luke's friend."

"Luke?" Amy repeated, coming to join them.

"Sarah Jane's Luke. We were in Oxford briefly."

"Oh, yeah. Hi, Dawn." She waved, looking up at the console. "Hi Luke!"

"Hi Amy!" He waved back, still studying the console.

"Give him ten minutes, he'll be flying that thing just as well as the Doctor," Dawn murmured.

"Really?"

"Oh, he's clever, Luke. Luke!"

"Yep!"

"Can you get us back home yet?"

"Uh – almost!"

"Did he kidnap you?" Amy asked. "He's always running off with people."

"Dawn!" Luke was hanging over the rail, eyes bright. "We can go to Washington!"

"Maria?" she guessed.

"Yeah!"

"Sounds like fun. I haven't been to Washington for a while."

"Who's Maria?" Amy asked.

"Friend of his from the Bannerman Road gang. She moved to America three or four years ago and they haven't seen each other since."

"Old friend, huh?" Amy nodded thoughtfully.

Dawn made a face at her. "They were thirteen. Or maybe fourteen, I guess. Quit it."

"I didn't say anything." She was grinning, though.

Dawn turned away, heading up the ramp. "Are we there yet?"

"Ah, backseat drivers, how I love you." The Doctor grinned at her before pointing to a seat. "Sit and stop backseat driving. No, new plan. Stand here and if that light turns orange, hit it."

"What does that do?"

"Don't ask," Luke broke in. "Just hit it if it turns orange."

"Good advice," Amy agreed from below. "Never ask him to explain things if you don't already know the answer."

"Oi!"

"What's supposed to happen when I hit it?" Dawn slapped the console.

"It's supposed to stop being orange, obviously."

"And what if it doesn't?"

"Hit it again!"

"That's pretty much how he explains everything," Amy advised her. "That, and 'think of a thing – it's nothing like a thing, but it'll make it easier.' "

"Tiny little monkey brains," the Doctor muttered. "Although you probably don't have to worry about that, do you, Dawn?"

"Stop that," Luke warned him.

The Doctor peered intently at Luke's forehead. "Don't suppose you have to worry about it either."

"And stop that. It's creepy."

"Nonsense. Amy, is this creepy?"

"Yeah, little bit." She leaned on the railing, watching them. "Something we should know, kids?"

"Nothing," Luke said firmly, overriding Dawn with a look.

"If you're sure."

The Doctor clapped his hands together, grinning. "Right! Next stop, Washington! Off we go, Luke my boy."

 

Xander and Andrew were only a few minutes out of the Slayer House when Mr Smith and Jack, almost simultaneously, called to tell them the TARDIS was gone. They diverted to Bannerman Road, reaching there almost three hours after the original phone call.

Sky met them at the door and led them up to the attic. Sarah Jane was back, watching Mr Smith run deep space scans.

"Hi, Xander, Andrew," she said when they came in. "No sign of them yet, I'm afraid. Do you want something to drink?"

"No, ta." Xander looked around, impressed. "Wow. Very nice."

"Oh, it's just a little something I've thrown together over the years," Sarah Jane said with a smile. "Andrew, please don't touch that, it's very sensitive."

"Don't touch anything," Xander agreed. "Sit down and keep your hands in your pockets."

"Oh, but...!"

"Sit."

"Here." Sarah Jane tossed him a small box. "This is – sort of like a video game. It was a present to Clyde, but he won't mind."

"How does...ooooh!" Andrew blinked, tilting the box.

"Holographic display that only you can see," Sarah Jane told him. "Have fun."

"You're never getting that back from him," Xander murmured.

"It doesn't matter. Clyde hasn't touched it for a while. It's for a much younger child – their equivalent of a teaching game."

"Still, pretty cool." He watched Mr Smith's screen for a minute. "No sign?"

"No, but Mr Smith can only scan relatively close to Earth. The TARDIS could be anywhere."

"TARDIS located," Mr Smith announced.

"Where?"

"The TARDIS is in orbit around Saturn."

"I hear it's nice there this time of year," Xander agreed wisely.

"Call it, Mr Smith," Sarah Jane ordered.

"Certainly." His screen hazed and then cleared to reveal the Eleventh Doctor, grinning.

"Hello, Bannerman Road!"

"Doctor. Did you kidnap Luke and Dawn?"

"Kidnap is a very strong word, Sarah Jane Smith, you should be careful where you're flinging it around."

Sarah Jane smiled. "Are they with you?"

"We're here, mum," Luke said from off screen. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, tilting the screen so they could see.

"What are you doing, Luke?"

"Learning to fly the TARDIS." He was grinning, clearly thrilled. "We're going to see Maria in Washington."

"It's term time, Luke."

"Not to worry," the Doctor assured her, "I'll have them back before they miss anything."

"You always say that, and somehow it never quite works out that way."

"Before they miss anything important?"

"Doctor..."

He made a face. "You've got boring in your old age, Sarah."

"She's not old," Luke told him.

The Doctor ignored him. "Are you in the attic?"

"Yes," Sarah Jane said patiently. "We called you, remember?"

"Good. Stay there."

The screen flipped off and Sarah Jane turned. "Sky, come here. Xander, you might like to step over there to Andrew."

"Why?" Xander asked, obeying.

"Temporal flux escalating," Mr Smith announced, and the noise of the TARDIS filled the room.

"Oh. That's why." Xander backed up a little further, watching. "Is it going to fit?"

"Yes. More or less." She wrapped an arm around Sky, watching the TARDIS fade into solidity.

The door opened and Luke put his head out. "Right on target!" he crowed over his shoulder.

"Showing off is very unattractive," the Doctor said from inside.

"You show off all the time!" a Scottish girl protested.

"Yes, but I'm actually better at things. Plus I'm older than you."

"Then I should be allowed to show off," an English man said.

"No, that doesn't count." He stepped past Luke, grinning at them. "Sarah! And – new girl, I don't know you, who're you?"

"This is my daughter Sky," Sarah Jane told him.

The Doctor frowned, looking at his bare wrist. "Now, I know it's less than a linear year since the last time I saw you. And I'm not very good at human growth rates, but I'd be willing to wager she's older than that."

"Sarah Jane adopted me," Sky told him.

"Yes, the Captain and the shopkeeper left her with me," Sarah Jane said.

The Doctor didn't react. "Well, you are rather making a habit of picking up children, Sarah. I'll remember that next time I find one. Hello, Sky."

"Hello," she said cheerfully. "May I look in your ship?"

"Luke, don't let her touch anything," Sarah Jane warned him. He nodded quickly, drawing her into the ship.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Me me me please? Please?" Andrew burst out.

The Doctor stepped around the corner of the TARDIS, eyeing him. "And you are?"

"Doctor, that's Andrew and Xander, they're Dawn's friends. They got worried when you kidnapped her and came here for my help."

"I didn't kidnap her. Kidnap is a very loose description. It was all her own fault. Andrew and Xander?" He turned on Xander, staring at him. "Harris."

"Ye-es," Xander said warily. "Sarah Jane, why does he know my name?"

"Alien teams," the Doctor murmured. "Andrew, you may look at my ship. Touch _nothing_."

"Really?" Andrew threw his arms around the Doctor, hugging him tightly. Startled, the Doctor tentatively hugged him back. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"He's serious about not touching anything," Xander warned him.

"I promise." Andrew let go, bouncing on the spot. "An actual alien spaceship! Oh, wow..."

"Go on," the Doctor said, pushing him gently towards the door. Andrew went, stopping to run a hand over the doorframe.

"Was that wise?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Amy'll keep him in line. She's good at that. So! Why am I here?"

"That was our question," Xander told him. "Why are you here?"

"You called me, Sarah."

"After you ran off with my son, yes," she agreed lightly.

"Kidnapped is such a harsh word."

"I didn't say kidnapped."

The attic door opened, bouncing off the TARDIS and back into Clyde. "Sarah J – ow!"

"Careful!" the Doctor called cheerfully.

The door opened again, more slowly, and Clyde edged around the TARDIS. "Oh," he said, eyeing it. "That explains it."

"Explains what?" Sarah Jane asked, touching his chin and angling his face into the light.

"This." He held up one hand, crackling with blue energy. "I'm fine, it didn't really get me."

"What is that?" Xander asked, poking at his hand.

"Artron energy. It's what the TARDIS runs on, so whenever it's around I get a flare up. Is something going on?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Xander told him. "Your Doctor doesn't much like direct questions."

"Luke and Sky are in the TARDIS, Clyde," Sarah Jane told him. "Where's Rani?"

"Helping her mum; big wedding order came in the shop. I called her, but since it didn't seem like anything was wrong I told her to stay there. I can call her back..."

"No. I think we're all right. Go on." Sarah Jane smiled and he nodded uncertainly, stepping into the TARDIS.

"Amy! Rory!" the Doctor called. "You're being very rude. Come and meet our hostess."

Rory appeared in the doorway. "Hello, Miss Smith –"

"Sarah Jane. It's Rory, isn't it? How's married life?"

"Everything I hoped for, except I hoped for rather less cannonballing around space and time."

"Oi," the Doctor said warningly.

"Amy says we can't come out because the tall guy –"

"Andrew," Sarah Jane told him.

"– keeps trying to push buttons or pull wires, and she doesn't trust Dawn to stop him."

"Hey!" Dawn protested from inside.

The Doctor grimaced. "Well, be careful, then."

"Yep." Rory withdrew back inside.

"Now." The Doctor turned to Mr Smith. "What year is it, Sarah Jane?"

"2011. Why?"

"Just checking; it's hard to keep track, you know. Mr Smith! Can you check –"

The TARDIS vanished.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll notice that Ianto is alive. Pick your favourite reason. :D

"It's so pretty." Sky touched the edge of the console, carefully far from any buttons. "It's singing."

"Careful, Sparky," Clyde warned her. "We don't need you setting anything off."

"I am being careful. I don't think I can, anyway, this isn't exactly electricity. It's something else."

"Maybe you should be careful, Clyde," Dawn suggested. "You're lighting up like a Christmas tree here."

"Hence why I'm not touching anything," he agreed.

"I can't see," Andrew whined from near the door.

"Live with it," Amy advised him. "You can't keep your hands off the console, you don't get to go near the console."

"That's so unfair."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Luke said absently. "You can let him up."

"You'd better be careful," Amy warned, stepping aside. "Where's Rory?"

"He said something about the kitchen," Clyde offered, slapping Andrew's hand down as he went to touch something.

"Ow," Andrew muttered.

"Well, stop then. You've been told."

"Bully."

"And proud of it, so stop trying to touch things."

"No one touch anything," Amy ordered. "I'm just going to find Rory, I'll be right back." She headed out of the room.

"Luke?" Sky said suddenly.

"What, Sky?"

"Why is –"

The floor pitched suddenly, sending Andrew crashing into Clyde. Sky almost went over the railing; only a grab from Luke saved her. He hauled her closer, anchoring her against his own body as the TARDIS shook.

"What the hell!" Clyde yelled, shoving Andrew off and trying to get back to his feet. Dawn was crouched nearby, trying to keep her balance, and caught at Andrew to support him.

"I don't know!" Luke wrapped an arm around Sky, stretching with the other to turn the screen around so he could see. "We're moving!"

"Got that bit, thanks." Clyde wedged himself against the railing behind them. "Here, Sparky, your brother's busy." Sky pushed away from Luke, pressing herself against Clyde and freeing him to poke at the controls.

The TARDIS thumped, knocking Luke off his feet, and stabilised. Andrew scrambled to his feet, holding out a hand to Dawn.

"What happened?" Rory demanded, running down the stairs. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, we're all right," Clyde said. "Sky?"

"I'm all right." She let go of him, taking a step away. "Where are we?"

"Luke?" Clyde asked.

"Not sure yet. Hang on. Dawn, you all right?"

"Yeah."

Amy appeared, shaking her head. "Where's the Doctor?" she asked, glancing around the room.

"He's not here," Luke told her.

"But we moved."

"Yes, but it wasn't him. It wasn't anyone. We just moved."

"No one flies this thing except the Doctor. And River, but I think flying by remote control is still beyond her."

Luke shrugged. "None of us touched anything."

"Andrew?" Clyde said abruptly.

"I didn't touch anything!" he promised.

"I hope not."

"I didn't," he insisted. "I didn't want you to hit me again."

"He didn't," Dawn agreed. "I was watching him. He wasn't anywhere near the console."

Amy frowned, crossing to study the console. "Anyone know where we are?"

Luke reeled off the co ordinates, adding, "Somewhere in the Cigar Galaxy."

"Cigar Galaxy? Really?" Clyde asked.

"Messier 82, or NGC 3034. 12 million light years from Earth in the Ursa Major constellation," Luke said patiently. "About seven million years in Earth's past."

"I like cigar galaxy," Andrew offered.

"How far away?" Sky asked.

"12 million light years. Don't worry, Sky, I'll get us back."

"Are we on a planet?" Dawn cracked the door open, peering out.

"Don't go out there," Rory said quickly, crossing to join her.

"I'm not. But it's cool, look."

"Yes, it's very cool. Let's close the door now."

Sky ducked under his arm, leaning into the doorframe to keep him from closing it. "It looks like Earth," she said, disappointed.

"They often do. Come on, now," Rory tried.

"Look up," Dawn told her, ignoring Rory's attempts to get them to move without touching them.

Sky tilted her head back and grinned. "Hey, two suns! Cool."

"Luke, why aren't we moving?" Clyde murmured.

"I don't know," he said just as quietly. "It should be working."

"Power?"

"Yes."

"And it's set right?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"Clyde..."

"The TARDIS is sentient," Amy offered. "Sometimes she sends us places she thinks we need to be."

"Why would she leave the Doctor behind, though?" Luke protested. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Who knows." Lowering her voice, Amy said confidentially "She's a bit odd sometimes."

"Is it smart to say that about the sentient ship while you're _in_ the sentient ship?" Clyde asked pointedly. 

"Ah, she likes us. Well, she likes Rory." She glanced over at where Rory was still trying to corral the girls. "Oi! Away from the door, girls!"

Sky jumped, circling Rory to get away from the door. Dawn just glanced back at her, one eyebrow up. "If the TARDIS brought us here for a reason, maybe we should go find the reason," she suggested.

"No, what we should do is stay safe in here and wait for your genius boyfriend to get us back home. I've heard about Sarah Jane, I'm not having her mad at me. Get back in here."

"That's a lot of pressure," Luke murmured to Clyde.

"Yeah, but you can do it."

"Yeah?"

"Sure. Need me to – hold things, or something?"

Luke grinned, turning back to the console. "No. Thanks. Actually – Amy, there's a kitchen here, right?"

"Yeah, course."

"Andrew, can you go look? I think we could all do with something. Sky'll help you out."

"Sure. Come along, padawan. Where is it?"

"Oh, just head out that way," Amy waved vaguely towards the door, "and you'll find it. Try a few doors. Maybe you'll be able to find the library."

A cell phone rang and everyone started patting pockets. "Me," Rory said, holding his up. "Hello? – Yep. Luke!"

Luke caught the phone, waving Andrew away. "Why didn't he just call me?"

"Or the TARDIS," Amy added. "Answer it, kiddo."

He made a face at her. "Hello?"

"Luke! Did you run off with my TARDIS?"

"She ran off with me, Doctor."

"She'll do that," he agreed, voice soft and fond. "Where are you, do you know?"

Luke reeled off the co ordinates again and added, "Seven million years or so in Earth's past. How are you calling us?"

"Oh, I jiggery poked Rory's phone after he joined us."

"But not Amy's?"

"Yes, hers too, I just couldn't remember her number. Anyone hurt?"

"No. Do you know why we're here?"

"Noooo," he said, but Luke thought he was probably lying. "Can you get home?"

"It's not working."

Clyde listened as Luke fell into techno babble; Amy was listening as well, eyebrows up. "He is clever, isn't he?" she murmured.

"Made that way," Clyde said absently. "Amy, how much trouble are we in?"

"TARDIS'll look after us. She always does."

"Good to know." He tapped Luke's shoulder, waiting until he looked up, vaguely distracted. "I'm going to find Andrew and Sky. Get Dawn up here to help you, she's driving Rory mad down there."

"Yeah," Luke agreed; Clyde was fairly sure he hadn't heard a word. "No, I've tried that, Doctor."

Clyde glanced at Amy, who waved him away. "I'll do it. Go on."

 

 

"You're sure?" the Doctor asked for the sixth time.

Xander was sitting on the couch, head on hand, watching wearily as he paced across the room and back. Sarah Jane was standing by Mr Smith, arms folded, occasionally stepping forward to rescue some random piece of something from the Doctor. Rani had arrived a little while earlier and was now on the computer, chatting with Maria in case the TARDIS actually did turn up there.

"Ok. Well, try resequencing the blah blah blah, blah blah blah."

Xander blinked slowly, trying to refocus. He was almost sure the Doctor hadn't really just said blah blah blah.

"Xander," Sarah Jane said softly.

"Yeah," he said blearily. She was sitting beside him; when had that happened?

"Are you all right? You're very pale."

" Sis Tuesday."

"Yes," she agreed carefully. "Are you all right?"

"I have a cold." He waved it off. "It's nothing."

"Rani," she said over him, "Can you get Xander some tea? Xander, have you taken something?"

"Yeah, before we left the House. Can't take anything yet. Some tissues'd be nice though."

"Got it," Rani agreed, skirting the Doctor and heading downstairs.

Xander blinked as Sarah Jane pressed a hand against his forehead. "Um...?"

"You're warm."

" Sis a cold. I was out a couple nights ago helping on a stake out, I got rained on. It's fine."

"Well..." She eyed the Doctor, who was saying something about the refractal period. "I think we may be here a while. Why don't you lie down?"

" m too tall."

"True," she agreed gently. "Luke's bed is downstairs, and it's clean. Come on. Doctor?" she added a little more loudly. "I'll be back in a minute." The Doctor waved her off; Xander was fairly sure he hadn't heard a word.

"I'm fine," Xander muttered, following her.

"Yes, but nothing's happening right now, so you may as well get some rest."

"Sarah Jane, are Dawn and Andrew in trouble?"

She hesitated before pushing open one of the bedroom doors. "The TARDIS usually knows what she's doing." She waved Xander towards the bed.

"I don't like the sound of that pause. This room is quite cool."

"Luke likes things." She touched one of the model aircraft, smiling.

"I used to like things." Xander sat, resisting the urge to immediately curl up.

"I think he was trying to fit fourteen years into a few months." She ran an eye over him. "Take your shoes off, you'll feel better."

"You're a good mom," he told her, reaching down to tug at his laces.

She smiled, leaning out of the door. "Rani."

"Oh!" Backtracking, Rani came in with a cup in one hand and a box of tissues in the other. Looking around, she hooked Luke's bin over to the side of the bed. "There. Need anything else?"

"I'm good," Xander said, taking the tea carefully. "Thank you."

"Get some rest," she told him, smiling before heading back upstairs.

"Sarah Jane?"

"They're safe," she told him, and this time he believed her.

"Anything changes..."

"We'll call you. I promise. Do you need to call anyone?"

"Uh. I should, but...I'll wait a little while. Maybe it'll fix itself."

"It will," Sarah Jane promised, touching his forehead again. Xander let the pressure urge him down until he was lying. "Get some sleep."

"Mmmph. You'll call?"

"I'll call."

 

"Right." Luke hung up, absently passing the phone to Dawn.

"Well?"

"Well..." He shrugged, studying the console. "It should be working."

"Luke..."

"No, really. He can't figure out why it isn't."

"So, what, are we stuck here?" Rory asked, frowning.

"The TARDIS brought us here for a reason. We might have to go and find out what that reason is."

"No," Amy said firmly.

"I don't think we have a choice. She can just keep us here until we do."

"Tea's up!" Clyde called from the top of the stairs, leading the others in. Luke turned gratefully away from Amy, taking the cup Sky offered him with a smile.

Andrew passed cups around to the others; Clyde had milk and sugar and there was quiet confusion for a minute as everyone got sorted out. "So where are we?" Clyde asked, sitting on the steps with his cup.

Luke dropped to sit a couple of steps below him. "We can't get the TARDIS going."

"Really? You and the Doc can't get it working?"

"It's working fine. She just doesn't want us to leave yet." Luke was rubbing the railing next to him, Clyde realised suddenly.

"Why not?" he asked carefully, looking up to catch Amy's eye. She was watching Luke with a frown.

"Because we haven't done whatever she brought us here to do."

"A quest," Andrew breathed.

"Maybe. Something."

Clyde leaned down suddenly, knocking Luke's hand away from the railing. Luke turned to stare at him and Clyde told him honestly, "You're giving me the heebies. Stop stroking it."

"Her."

"Stop stroking her. You've got a girlfriend, go stroke her if you wanna get handsy."

"Thanks," Dawn muttered. Rory was choking on his tea; Amy patted his back sympathetically. Clyde glanced up at Dawn and she rolled her eyes, coming to sit beside Luke. "Any ideas what we need to do, Luke?"

He shook his head, eyes locked on his tea. "How does it usually work, Mr Williams?"

"That's you," Amy told Rory.

"Oh. Yeah. Not used to that."

"Being called by name?" Clyde said, bemused. "How does that work?"

"Well, the Doctor – never mind. Normally, Luke, we go out of the TARDIS and meet some people, and whatever happens, happens. Sometimes we plunge right into it, sometimes we wander around for a while first..."

"No general rule, then?" Clyde asked.

"Doctor would say that's what makes it interesting," Amy said.

"He would," Clyde muttered. "Sparky, you stay here, ok? Andrew, will..."

"No! No, no, no, nonono! We are on an _alien planet_ and you want me to _stay on the ship?_ NO!"

"I don't think he wants to," Amy said lightly.

"I'm getting that feeling, yeah," Rory agreed. "I'll stay here. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Dawn asked. "I could stay."

"Amy or I should be here. It's fine. I'll keep Sky company."

"Luke," Sky complained.

"We won't be long. Promise. And I'd feel better if I knew you were safe in here."

"Dawn's not staying," Sky protested.

"Dawn knows how to fight. And she wouldn't stay even if I told her to. Please, Sky? Just while we look around. I'll make sure you get a chance to look around before we leave."

"Promise?"

"I promise," he agreed solemnly.

"And you'll be careful?"

"Cross my heart."

She turned to look at Clyde. "Make sure he's careful," she ordered.

"I'm on the case, Sky. Promise."

"All right," she said reluctantly.

"I'll make sure he's all right too," Dawn offered.

"You're more likely to distract him."

"Sky!" Luke protested, blushing bright red.

"Wow, I didn't know someone could turn that colour," Amy observed. "Come on, kids, let's get this show on the road. Dawn, what's it look like outside?"

"Cliffs, so rocky underfoot. Two suns, probably fairly warm. Colours more or less matched Earth. I'm guessing the TARDIS doesn't usually bring you places where people can't survive?"

"No." Amy turned, pushing the doors open and taking a few steps outside. "Oof, it stinks," she announced over her shoulder. "But I don't think it's poisonous or anything."

"TARDIS says it isn't," Luke told her, eyes flickering over the screen. "Higher ammonia than Earth, that's the smell, and we'll have to be careful how long we're out in it. But it's not harmful."

"How high?" Rory asked, joining him.

"Less than twenty five pph, we should be fine."

"Good," he murmured. Catching Clyde's look, he added, "At twenty five PPH or more, exposure should be limited to eight hours."

"Now you sound like him." Clyde jerked his head at Luke.

"I'm a nurse, it's a medical fact."

"It's lower than that," Luke said more loudly, switching the screen off. "Rory, what's your phone number?"

"Amy's is the only phone that'll work out there, and she knows the numbers. Do you think you'll need it?"

"Think, no. Never hurts to be prepared, though. Behave, Sky high."

Sky made a face at him and he smiled, ruffling her hair before turning away. "Right. Let's go."

 

 

"Right." The Doctor hung up very carefully, concentrating intently on it. "Right. Well."

"Doctor?" Sarah Jane prompted patiently.

"The TARDIS won't start."

"It won t start?" Rani repeated. "Can it do that?"

"Of course she can, she's ali – living. Conscious, sentient, however you want to phrase it. Mind you, she doesn't normally stop for no good reason. Mr Smith, can you contact Captain Harkness?"

"I can."

"Good. Do."

"Sarah Jane –" Rani hid a smile; Mr Smith was flaunting his allegiance. "Shall I contact Torchwood?"

"Please do, Mr Smith," Sarah Jane agreed.

The Doctor pouted for a moment before looking around. "Where's K9? He likes me."

"He's in Oxford. I gave him to Luke. And he might not like you if he finds out it took you this long to think of him."

"Connecting," Mr Smith announced.

The Torchwood logo flared on his screen and faded to reveal Ianto. "Hello, Bannerman Road," he said cheerfully. "I'm afraid the captain's not here right now. He went to Slayer Inc, they found a Weevil nest last night."

"No injuries, I hope?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No, no. He just finds it easier to get the report if he goes over there in person."

"Can't possibly be any ulterior motives there," Rani muttered.

"On which side?" Sarah Jane asked, smiling at her horrified look.

The Doctor turned to put his back to the screen. "Slayer Inc?" he asked softly.

"The Council team in Cardiff. They help Jack with the Rift debris. Do you know how long he'll be, Ianto?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Smith. It could be a while. I can patch you through to his communicator."

"Thank you."

"Miss Smith," the Doctor mocked. "He's ever so polite, isn't he?"

"It makes a nice change," Sarah Jane said placidly.

"What are you implying?"

"What are you inferring?"

"I asked you first."

"You're in my home."

"I'm older!"

"Please tell me your team's not like this," Rani said directly to Ianto.

"Jack can be worse when he's in the mood."

"I heard that," Jack said, voice tinny over the varying connections.

"Whoops," Ianto said, deadpan. "Miss Smith?"

"Jack!" the Doctor said, delighted.

"Doctor!" Jack returned in the same tone. "What are you doing there?"

"I'm stuck."

"Excuse me?"

"The TARDIS ran off without me. Jack, you have transport?"

"Nothing. Just the wristband, and you know how well that works. Where's River?"

"She could be anywhere. Or anywhen."

"Who's River?" Sarah Jane asked.

"My w – friend. Wfriend, it's what they call friends on her planet. Wfriend."

"Wfriend," she repeated, glancing at the screen – pointlessly, since Jack couldn't see her. "I'll remember that one."

The Doctor eyed her for a moment before ploughing ahead. "Sometimes she comes when she's called, sometimes she doesn't."

"Sounds familiar," Jack said, just quietly enough that they couldn't comment on it. "She's an archaeologist," he said more loudly, "and she does her study hands on."

"Time travel?" Rani realised. "Brilliant. Do they just pass out time machines in the future?"

"No. River is – a special case." The Doctor shook his head firmly. "She's also unavailable, so that's no help."

"You can't recall the TARDIS?" Jack asked.

"She's ignoring me," he admitted. "She wants those kids on that planet for some reason."

"What planet?"

He reeled off the co ordinates, waiting while Jack did the maths. "When are they?"

"Seven million years ago."

There was a pause before Jack said sharply, "Ianto, I'm on my way back. Get a car ready, I'm going to London."

"Jack, what is it?" Sarah Jane demanded.

"The TARDIS took Dawn?"

"Luke, Sky, Clyde, Dawn, Andrew, and Rory and Amy. Why?"

"Because I know that planet, and I know what was happening there seven million years ago."

 

"This is quite nice, actually," Dawn said, looking around.

"Yeah," Clyde agreed carelessly. "It's nicer than the last alien planet I was on."

"Only alien planet you've been on," Luke murmured. "And you were on it for about three minutes total in bursts of twenty seconds at a time."

"So technically, I've been to alien planets ten times now. And that puts me – how many? Oh, yeah – nine times ahead of you."

"You can't count the same planet nine different times! You didn't even go there nine times."

"You weren't there, mate, off living the high life in Oxford."

"I feel like I need to know this story," Dawn commented.

Luke smiled, looking back absently to where Amy was chivvying Andrew along. "Do you remember the day I skipped our study session and you came to my room looking for me?"

"Yes, there was a problem at home."

"Right. UNIT – that's a part of the Army that deal with aliens – they sent someone to tell my mum the Doctor was dead. It was a lie, of course, they were trying to get hold of some Companions, and they got my mum and a friend of hers, Jo Grant."

"The Doctor had got stranded on this alien junkyard planet," Clyde continued, "but he was able to switch places with me to get everything sorted out."

"So you were stuck on the junkyard planet?" Dawn asked.

"Wouldn't have been so bad if he had left me some kind of instructions."

"He was in sort of a hurry," Luke pointed out.

"You weren't even there, you don't get to derail my rants, Luke."

"I wasn't exactly living the high life, though."

"No, he was very distracted for a couple of days," Dawn agreed. "I think he actually went through a whole class without volunteering an answer."

"You are bad influences on each other," Luke muttered.

"You have an army division that deals with aliens?" Dawn asked suddenly.

"Yeah, they're part of the UN," Luke explained. "Unified Intelligence Task Force, UNIT. The Doctor worked for them for a while, science advisor like I told you, and Mum helped him. So did Jo, before Mum. She still has clearance and authority."

"Comes in handy when she needs someone to do the heavy lifting," Clyde agreed. "Should we stop and wait for the others?"

Dawn turned, looking back down the path. "ANDREW! Move it or I'll lock you in the ship!" Turning back, she grinned at Clyde. "That should do it."

"Your girlfriend is scary," he told Luke earnestly.

"You should see Connor when he gets mad. Dawn, why are you asking about UNIT?"

"Hmm? Oh. Because we had an Army division that dealt with demons. They called them HSTs, Hostile Sub Terrestrials. Buffy's boyfriend was the field commander, for a while."

"Boyfriend for a while or commander for a while?" Clyde asked.

"Boyfriend for a while. He was commander right up until the base imploded and Buffy had to save everyone."

"You are disturbingly blasé about that. I think I'm going to walk with Andrew for a while. Maybe I can get him to keep up."

"Good luck," Dawn agreed cheerfully. Clyde jogged back towards the others and she glanced at Luke. "Am I disturbingly blasé?"

"Blasé, anyway. I don't find it disturbing."

"You're sweet." She leaned in to kiss him, grinning at the disgusted "Yuck!" that drifted up towards them from behind. "Where are we going?" she added, letting him go and looking around.

"We're going up that slope so we can get an idea of the area," Luke told her. "The sun – one of the suns – is going down. I want to make sure we're back at the TARDIS before dark, assuming it gets dark here."

"Do you think it won't?"

"I think it will, but I don't know when it'll happen. I just want to be sure."

"Hey." She kissed him again. "We're fine. Stop worrying."

"Sky's here," he said softly.

"Safe, in the TARDIS, where nothing can get at her. And the nurse is with her. Luke, you're the one who told me, nothing gets in the TARDIS that the Doctor doesn't want there."

"The Doctor isn't here. And Amy and Rory can't fly it."

"That doesn't make it your job!"

He started to answer, but the others finally caught up and he cut himself off. "Are we stopping?" Clyde asked, glancing from Dawn to Luke and back.

"Just waiting for you. I thought you were going to make Andrew keep up with us."

"Keep up with you, not over take you. Where are we going?"

"Up that slope," Dawn said, pointing. "Andrew, what are you doing?"

Andrew looked up at her, eyes wide and frantic. "I don't have enough pockets!"

"Enough for what?" she asked, ignoring Clyde's frantic don't ask him that gestures.

"Everything!" Andrew wailed. "I have to bring something back, or else it's like I wasn't here, but how can I pick?"

"This is your problem?" Amy said, exasperated. Reaching across, she pulled everything apart from a small blue flower out of his hands. "There. Take that home."

"What is it?" Andrew asked, taking a smell. "Um. Baking." He held it out to Dawn, who took an obliging whiff.

"Do I look like a botanist, kid?"

"I'm the same age as you!"

"And yet such a kid. Now where are we going?"

"Up there," Dawn said again, waving at the hill.

"Well, what are we standing around for?"

"Dawn, walk with me," Clyde said abruptly, snagging her arm and dragging her to the back of the group. "Luke, it's your turn to babysit."

"I resent that," Andrew complained.

"Prove me wrong," Clyde suggested, pushing him to get him started.

"What?" Dawn asked softly as they got moving.

"What what?" Clyde said absently.

"Clyde."

"Oh. How's Luke?"

"I think he's mad at himself he hasn't got us home yet."

"Sounds about right, idiot boy," Clyde muttered.

"It's because Sky is here, I think. At least, that's making it worse."

"That sounds right, too," he agreed cheerfully. "Doesn't care about you or me, but Sky, that's different."

"You're the one who said she had to stay in the TARDIS," Dawn reminded him.

"Well, yeah, but that's because she's Sparky, not because I have some misguided feeling of responsibility."

"No, it's entirely guided in your case, isn't it?" Dawn grinned at the look on his face. "You're exactly like Xander."

"That's what he said," Clyde admitted.

"He's a good judge of character, Xander. That's why we let him loose on the newbies. He always gets them settled in much faster than we would."

Up ahead, Luke paused to get Andrew back on track and Dawn smiled faintly. "I have this odd feeling Andrew might find himself getting left behind the next time we leave the TARDIS."

"Well, depends where we are. Me, I'm hoping that the next time we leave the TARDIS it'll be into the attic in Bannerman Road."

"Optimist."

"What, is that not like Xander?"

 

 

Jack refused to say anything else, just repeated his orders to Ianto and signed off. Ianto himself apologised and went to get the car ready, closing the connection between the computers.

"What happened seven million years ago?" Sarah Jane demanded, advancing on the Doctor.

He ducked around the pillar in the centre of the attic, backing up rapidly. "A lot of things happened seven million years ago, you'll have to be more exact..."

"What happened seven million years ago on the planet the TARDIS took them to?" Rani asked, standing against the door with her arms folded.

"That is more specific, but it's very awkwardly worded. Perhaps you should rephrase."

"Doctor," Sarah Jane insisted.

"She's going all mumsy," he stage whispered to Rani. "Does she do that often?"

"Yeah, and there's no point trying to get 'round her, she will get it out of you. Just give up now, keep some dignity."

"It may be too late for that," Mr Smith noted.

"Oi, you, stay out of it," the Doctor warned. "You can be reprogrammed."

"Last time his program changed, he nearly killed Luke and destroyed Earth," Sarah Jane told him. "Oh, and what happened seven million years ago?"

The Doctor grimaced, giving in. "There's a slight chance that the TARDIS has landed on the planet where vampires originated."

"Vampires are demons, they're extra dimensional," Rani pointed out.

"Yes. But they started here. They went somewhere else, afterwards, and then bled back through."

"That seems unlikely."

"It's cyclical." The Doctor waved it off. "Right now, seven million years ago, vampires are being born. And I think that's where the TARDIS is."

"My children are on the TARDIS," Sarah Jane said softly.

"She won't let them be hurt, Sarah."

"She won't have anything to do with it. She wants them there. D'you think they'll walk away from it?"

He gripped her shoulders, holding her gaze. "I will get them back here."

"Yes," she said vaguely. "I think I need to go downstairs. Rani, will you keep the Doctor company?"

"Sarah Jane..."

"Please. I won't be long."

"Yeah." Rani nodded quickly. "Yeah, 'course. We'll hang out up here. You take your time."

"Sarah," the Doctor said quietly.

"Later." She smiled in his general direction, letting herself out of the attic and closing the door firmly behind herself.

The Doctor stared at the door for a long moment before looking at Rani. "They're coming back."

"I believe you. But they're not my kids. Give her some time." He nodded absently and she added gently "She trusts you. More than anyone in her life, she trusts you."

"Yes."

"So," she said, deliberately cheerful. "Want to keep me company for a while?"

He smiled gently. "Rani Chandra. I would be absolutely honoured."

 

 

"This is what we climbed the hill for?" Clyde said in disgust. "More hills."

"We couldn't tell there were more hills until we climbed that one," Luke pointed out.

"I am not in the mood for logic, Luke." Clyde sighed, looking around. "Ok, so there are ruins over there, or a smoke haze over there. Amy?"

"Yep?"

"Where are we more likely to find whatever is we're supposed to find?"

"Well, let's see." She came to join him, eyeing the two options carefully. "If we go to the ruins, we risk disturbing something sacred. If we go to the village that's probably under that smoke haze, we risk trespassing and possibly destroying crops."

"Rock and a hard place," he muttered. "Andrew? You're good at this."

"Am I?" Andrew asked, beaming.

"Well, you know more in theory than any of us. What do you think?"

He looked from the smoke to the ruins. "The ruins."

"Why?"

"It's a good spot. There's a stream, see? Trees, and open ground. It's raised up, too. Something serious must have happened to make them abandon it. We should go check it out."

"Sounds good to me," Dawn agreed.

"Amy, can you let Rory know?" Luke asked, studying the slope for the easiest way down. The slope wasn't that bad, though steeper on this side than the one they'd climbed up, but the ground was rocky and there were trees and shrub growing everywhere.

"There, I think," Clyde murmured, standing at his shoulder and tracing out a path.

"Yeah, that looks good," Luke agreed. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Luke, you know that. Or you should."

Luke glanced at him, startled. "Of course I know that."

"You sure? It's not your job to save us, you know. There's seven of us here."

"None of you can fly the TARDIS..."

"You didn't fly it either," Clyde pointed out gently. "Way I understand it, the TARDIS brought us here on her own, and she'll bring us home on her own when she's good and ready."

Luke made a face. "I hate it when you do that, you know."

"What, make sense? That's my job. Brains are your department."

Luke glanced back at the others. "I kind of wish we had Connor."

"You can wish for Connor. Me, I'm just going to aim Amy at anyone who gets in our way." Luke laughed and Clyde grinned, thumping him on the back. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Guys!" The others wandered up and he pointed out the suggested path. "We need to take it slowly," he warned them. "It's steeper than it looks, and those rocks won't help."

"Did you get Rory?" Luke asked Amy.

"Yep. They're playing cards, and Sky is winning all his imaginary money."

"She's a right card shark, Sky," Clyde agreed.

"That'll be your influence?" Dawn suggested.

"Oi! How'd you know it wasn't Luke?"

"Luke? Luke has no poker face at all. He can win against the computer, but he's terrible with real people."

"Thanks, Dawn," Luke muttered. "Andrew, you're tall, will you go first?"

"And don't stop to examine every rock you pass," Amy added. "You can look around later."

Andrew nodded, starting carefully down the slope. Luke sent Dawn after him and he followed her; Amy was on his heels and Clyde brought up the rear, watching to keep them on the path.

They all made it down in more or less one piece; Dawn stepped in a hole, but the strain worked out within a few minutes, and Andrew fell into the local equivalent of a holly bush. The barbs didn't stick, luckily, and the cuts were shallow, but he looked like he'd suddenly contracted chicken pox.

"That was fun," Clyde declared, dropping to sit on a convenient rock.

"That was your path," Amy reminded him.

"I know. I'm saying, it was fun."

"Fun for you, maybe. I thought you were used to chasing aliens."

"On Earth, yeah. We don't really visit alien planets much."

"Sounds boring."

"You'd be surprised."

Luke rose from where he'd been hunkered over Dawn's ankle. "It should be all right. Keep your boot on, it'll keep the swelling down. Andrew, come here and let me make sure those barbs didn't stick in anywhere."

"It doesn't feel like they did," Andrew said, but he let Luke check him out anyway. "Ow."

"Sorry. Try and keep them clean. And ask Rory to look at them when we get back to the TARDIS."

"Yes, boss," Andrew agreed, ducking around him to join Dawn at the edge of the clearing. "How far is it?"

"Just through here." Dawn pointed. "We should do it in a few minutes if we're careful."

"Sounds like fun. After you, m'lady." He held a branch out of her way, stepping through after her. Clyde was behind him and got the branch in the face; scowling, he held it until Luke and Amy had passed him.

"He's a bit special, Andrew, isn't he?" Amy noted.

"He's very loyal," Luke said defensively. "And very clever, if you want to know about sci fi. And he can raise demons, though I don't suppose that applies here."

"Oooh, defensive," Amy sing songed. "What's that about?" Luke made a face, stepping around a rock, and she grinned at Clyde.

"He is a bit special," Clyde agreed, "but he's all those things Luke said, too, and he's brave, when he needs to be. He'll surprise you."

"I look forward to it."

"Luke!" Dawn called back. Luke jogged ahead; she and Andrew were standing at the edge of the tree line, gazing across at the ruins.

"Wow. They're bigger than they looked from up there," he murmured, shading his eyes and studying the ruin.

"There's writing," Dawn said, pointing it out. "See there?"

"Yeah. Can you read it?"

"I can," Andrew said. "It's a form of – well, the name wouldn't mean anything. But yeah, I can read it."

"What's it say?" Clyde asked, joining them.

"Um – " Andrew murmured under his breath for a minute. "It's a warning," he said finally. "You know, don't disturb the ruins or death and destruction. The usual."

"What does it say exactly?" Luke asked patiently.

"Um, it doesn't really translate exactly, there are nuances and shifted meanings..."

"Best shot."

Andrew grimaced, muttering for a moment again. "Beware to they who tread upon this ground; vengeance will be swift and sure and none will escape its reach."

"See, that wasn't so hard," Clyde said cheerfully.

"Wasn't too encouraging either," Amy muttered.

"What would the Doctor do now?"

"March right in," she admitted. "He thinks warnings are for other people."

"Well, maybe we should do that."

"Or, we could go back and check out the village and see what the vengeance is likely to be."

Dawn pushed through the trees, stepping deliberately between some of the chunks of wall. "Seems all right so far," she called back, bouncing on her toes to test the ground. "Bit marshy. Nothing serious."

"Marshy," Luke repeated. "The rest of the place was dry as anything."

"Yeah, but we're in a valley," Clyde pointed out. "The water'd collect down here, right?"

"Yeah. That's probably it."

Clyde eyed him for a minute before sighing. "Dawn, get back here."

"Why?"

"Because with our luck you're about to fall in a sink hole."

"Sink holes don't actually exist, they're a myth."

"Yes, on Earth they're a myth. But then again, we shouldn't really be on a planet with two suns because the gravity should be too intense for planets to form in the first place, so who knows." Catching Luke's look, he added, "That's right. I know things."

"I know you do," Luke agreed. "Dawn?"

"I'm coming," she said with a sigh. "Taking all the fun out of exploring alien worlds, you two."

"Someone's got to be the sensible one. Come on." Clyde edged out, holding out a hand for her.

"Clyde, it's really not that bad, I can –" She broke off, twisting to look down at her leg.

"What?" he demanded.

"Um –"

"You're stuck."

"I –"

"Am stuck. I knew this was going to happen."

"It's just a hole in the ground, I'm not sinking."

"There can't be holes in a marsh, Dawn! It levels out. Remember?"

"I'm on rock, genius."

"My point still stands."

Luke sighed, slipping past Clyde, who snatched at his collar. "What are you doing?"

"I'm the lightest after Dawn. I'm going to go help her."

"You're taller than I am!"

"Yes, but I'm not as..." He gestured vaguely between them.

"Built," Amy offered, and sniggered when he blushed.

Clyde glared at her before turning back to Luke. "Just be careful."

"I'm always careful." Luke smiled at him, slipping through the trees and picking his way carefully until he could climb onto the rock beside Dawn. "Is it the same ankle?"

"No. It doesn't hurt, though. I'm just stuck."

"Well, that's something," Luke muttered, crouching to look at it. Dawn steadied herself with a hand on his shoulder as he twisted her foot lightly, trying to free her foot.

"Take her shoe off!" Amy called.

"The hole's pretty deep, I'm afraid I'd lose her shoe if I took it off."

"The TARDIS has loads of shoes."

"The TARDIS is on the other side of that hill," Dawn pointed out. "You try walking back in one shoe – ow, Luke, not that way."

"Sorry. Hang on..." He tugged more firmly and the foot came free, knocking her off balance; she caught at Luke's arm, squealing. Clyde had time to yell a warning before both of them disappeared into the marsh.


	3. Chapter 3

Xander woke when the bedroom door closed. Pushing up onto his elbows, he called "I'm awake" and immediately coughed harshly, trying to clear his throat.

"Sorry," Sarah Jane murmured, coming back in. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Xander waved it off, reaching for the glass on the locker. "What time is it?"

"Almost six. How do you feel?"

"Bunged up, but not sick." He took another sip. "What's going on?"

"We're waiting for Jack. He's on his way from Cardiff."

"Jack," Xander repeated. "Why?"

"He doesn't like to be left out of things," she said lightly.

"Sarah Jane." Xander caught her arm. "What's going on?"

 

Rani was perched on the steps watching the Doctor watch the Alien Files when the attic door burst open. "Xander," she said in surprise, standing. "How are you feeling?"

He ignored her, eyes on the Doctor. "Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Excuse me?"

"You put them in your space ship. You put _Andrew_ in your space ship, and you knew who he was. Did you know this would happen?"

"I knew who you are," the Doctor said mildly.

Xander shook his head. "You knew him, too. Alien Slayers. I'm never going to be on the alien teams, but Andrew will. And you put him on your ship."

"Xander, sit down," Sarah Jane said softly. "You're very pale."

"I'm angry," he said without looking at her. "Answer the question, Doctor."

The Doctor's smile faded and he suddenly looked very alien and very, very old. "Andrew Wells has a destiny and a legacy that goes far beyond this planet. But no. I didn't know it started today."

"Are you lying, Doctor?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Rule one," he said nonsensically before repeating, "I didn't know it was today."

"You always know." Sarah Jane caught Rani's eye, gesturing her to join them. "Something like that, you'd have known as soon as you landed."

"I was a little distracted by the universe destroying energy masquerading as a teenage girl." Xander stiffened and the Doctor nodded. "You did know about that. It's excellent work, my complements to her builders." 

"She isn't masquerading," Xander said, voice shaking. "Dawn is just as real as you or me."

"Realer, I should think. That's primordial energy, after all." He studied Xander for a moment. "You do know what it is."

Xander gritted his teeth. "The Key is gone, Doctor. It's just Dawn now."

"Wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong. The Key is primordial energy. Rani."

She jumped, taking a step back. "Me?"

"Rani Chandra," he said, voice gentling. "What was the first source of energy in our universe?"

"Um –" she frowned. "The Big Bang?"

"Points to the littlest – Sarah, what do you call yourselves?"

"At this moment in time? Angry."

"Ouch. Well, points to Rani. The Big Bang was so enormously colossal, you see, it created so much energy that it didn't dissipate. It just sort of hung around, being explodey. Think of it like when a Slitheen does that thing Slitheen are famous for – not that one, Rani, the other one – the evidence stays around."

"Completely lost," Xander murmured to Rani.

"Slitheen fart a lot," she said, rolling her eyes. "And it stinks to high heaven."

"Oh. Ew. Back on track."

"All right," the Doctor said cheerfully. "It's not really like that, but think of it like that if it helps. So there's our smelly energy being all explodey. Some very clever people shape it into a person, and the person walks and talks and thinks but it's not a person. Not really. It's energy in the shape of a person."

"Dawn is a person," Xander insisted. "Complete and whole."

"Is she," the Doctor said neutrally.

"More human than you are."

"I like him, Sarah," he said directly to her. "One more question, Xander Harris, and then Jack will be here. What do you suppose will happen when Dawn dies?"

"Are you threat –"

"No, of course I'm not threatening her. I quite like Dawn. But despite your remarkable skill at keeping the Summers girls alive, she will die some time. And what do we know about energy? Rani?"

"Um, we know that I really wish Luke was here for this bit?" The Doctor smiled and she added, "Energy can't be created or destroyed."

"Gold star, head of the class. And what did we just decide about Dawn?"

" _You_ decided," Xander corrected him. "I'm not convinced you know what you're talking about."

"Rani," the Doctor said without looking away from Xander, "Jack's here. Be a dear and let him in."

"And tea all around, I think," Sarah Jane added.

"How do you know he –"

The doorbell rang and the Doctor smiled gently at her. "I always know when Jack's around. Mind you, so do most people. He isn't subtle. Off you pop, there's a good girl."

Rani rolled her eyes at him. "No hitting, either of you," she warned them, letting herself out.

"So," the Doctor said, turning away. "Dawn dies. Of old age, surrounded by fat children for some reason. That's it, isn't it?" he added to Sarah Jane.

"Something like that."

"And boom. Big Bang – well, we've had two, so Big Bang Three."

"We had two? When was that?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Long story, happy ending. We're all still here."

"I don't see the point of this, Doctor."

"No point. Except that I know what she is, and I like you."

Jack opened the door, about to speak when Xander said "Thanks, but I'd rather not. I know what you do to your friends."

"Xander," Sarah Jane protested.

"What'd I miss, Doc?" Jack asked, picking his way across the room to join him. "Love the new look, by the way."

"Your first time?" the Doctor asked, glancing down at himself. "Nothing but a difference of opinion."

"That's what you call this?" Xander shook his head.

"What would you call it?" he asked politely. Xander glared and he added to Jack, "Dawn Summers and Andrew Wells were in the TARDIS when she ran away."

"Oh? _Oh._ Right. Is that now?"

"Apparently. You don't know Andrew?"

"No. Xander, and Giles, and some of the girls. But not Andrew."

"You know _of_ Andrew?" Xander asked.

Jack glanced at the Doctor before answering. "Myths and legends. Half forgotten. Hard to pin down."

"Liar," Xander said without heat. "You're just saying that because he wants you to. Did he tell you he knew? He put them on the ship, he knew it would take them."

"Doc?" Jack said warily.

"I didn't know it was today," the Doctor said patiently.

"Do you believe him?" Xander demanded. "Sky is twelve, did you know that? Dawn's eighteen."

"I believe him," Jack said quietly. "I trust him. Always have. Always will."

"Yeah? Trust him with your life?"

"All my lives."

"Trust him with your children's lives?"

"Xander," Sarah Jane murmured. Xander couldn't know what he was saying, but she'd watched Jack in that bunker fighting the 456.

"That's ok, Sarah Jane," Jack said quickly. "Yes, Xander. I would."

Xander abruptly sat down, very hard. "Ow," he said dazedly.

"He's not well," Sarah Jane murmured over his head. A moment later Jack's hand wrapped around his arm, hauling him to his feet.

"There we go," Jack announced. "Come on. Sarah Jane, you have somewhere for him...?"

"Yes, Luke's room. I'll show..."

"I'll find it. Thanks. Be right back."

Sarah Jane quietly closed the door behind them, turning to eye the Doctor. "Well?"

"Well?" he parroted, picking up something and fiddling with it.

"You snowed Xander, but I know you better than that. Did you know that this would happen?"

He swallowed, looking down at whatever was in his hands. "How can I answer that to you?"

"My children are on your ship, Doctor. Sky is twelve."

"I know."

"Luke's eighteen, and he's going to change the world."

"I know."

"If he gets the chance."

He looked up, meeting her eyes. "She'll take care of them, Sarah."

"She won't have the option, Doctor. If there are vampires on that planet, Luke won't sit by."

"They'll be back, Sarah."

She nodded, biting her lip. "Doctor? If the TARDIS comes back here without them? I don't ever want to see it again. Do you understand?"

"I understand," he agreed evenly.

"I'm going downstairs now. Mr Smith? Help the Doctor anyway he asks you to, please."

"I will, Sarah Jane," Mr Smith agreed.

"I love you," she told the Doctor. "Bring them home."

 

 

"Luke!"

Andrew had a hand on Clyde's arm, holding him in place. Clyde slapped angrily at him, trying to push him away. "Luke!"

"We're ok!" Luke called finally. "Just – that's foul. Just give us a second, Clyde, I can't put my hands down."

"Not there, you can't," Dawn agreed. "Here..." Her head came into view, liberally spattered with gunk; leaning to one side, she heaved and Luke appeared, completely covered, head to toe.

"Mate, I am _not_ helping you back up the slope," Clyde said, wincing at the sight.

Luke shifted, leaning to one side and spitting hard. "That is really horrible," he said, pointlessly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Did you..."

"No, I'm all right. That was very noble."

"He just didn't want to listen to you complain," Clyde offered.

"Clyde? Mate? Shut up," Luke said firmly, getting a grip on the rock and heaving himself to his feet.

He dripped slime all the way back to the TARDIS. Dawn managed to get most of the gunk off herself, though her hair was still a mess, but the stuff clinging to Luke refused to be sluiced off, and he made them stop trying after Amy almost slipped in the pool he was leaving. He trudged behind them back up the slope and down the other side.

"Luke, you all right?" Clyde called back as they came in sight of the TARDIS.

"Perfect, thanks," he said, wriggling slightly. "It's gone down my back," he added when Clyde stared.

"Right. We'll get you sorted out, mate, we're just back at the TARDIS now."

Rory opened the door, eyeing them warily. "Who's hurt?" he asked.

"Dawn hurt her ankle," Andrew offered. "And I fell in a holly – a very nearly holly bush. And Luke's all slimy but I don't think he's hurt. And Clyde and Amy are fine."

"Where's Sky?" Luke asked, looking past him.

"Um, she went to lie down. Said she was tired. Listen, hang on a mo, I'll find – towels?"

"A hose might be better," Amy suggested. "C'mon, Dawn, let me show you the best thing about the TARDIS."

"Oh?"

"The wardrobe."

The girls headed inside. Eventually Clyde took Andrew inside too; Luke stripped for the hose and afterwards pulled on clothes Rory had found somewhere, shivering. The suns had gone down and it was cold without them. Rory insisted on checking him over, but apart from being cold he was fine. 

"I don't get sick," Luke told him, patiently submitting to the exam. "I was made that way."

"You did get sick once," Clyde pointed out, coming back with a cup in each hand.

"That was..." Luke cut himself off, burying his face in the cup Clyde offered him.

"Sorry, what was that? Oh, right. That was an alien illness, I remember now. He swallowed some of that muck," he added to Rory.

"I did not, I spat it out," Luke protested. "Andrew's actually bleeding, why aren't you worried about him?"

"He fell in a holly bush. Sorry, a very nearly holly bush. Unless he's got hay fever I think he'll be all right."

"Where's Sky?" Luke asked Clyde.

"I dunno. Sleeping, didn't Rory say?"

"I'll show you," Rory offered. "I should go check on Dawn and Andrew, after all."

"Andrew's in the kitchen," Clyde told him. "Dawn's – actually, I don't know. With Amy somewhere."

Rory considered that. "I should go check on Andrew, after all."

"Wise man."

"Don't touch anything."

"Spoilsport."

"Can you be wise and a spoilsport at the same time?" Luke asked curiously. Rory laughed, leading him up the stairs at the back of the control room and into the corridors.

It was the first time Luke had made it past the control room in any version of the TARDIS. For a moment everything swam in front of his eyes, dimensions he shouldn't have been able to see moving in ways he couldn't describe.

"Luke?"

Rory. Luke relaxed as everything settled back into place, opening his eyes. "Sorry." He reached out, fingers trailing over the wall without touching. "She's singing."

Rory's face cleared. Luke thought absently that he liked the man very much. "Yeah, she'll do that." He mimicked Luke's touch. "Come on, your sister's room is over here." He opened a door, frowned, and closed it again. "Well, it's somewhere around."

"What do you mean?" Luke tried a door; it didn't open, and he frowned.

"The TARDIS moves rooms around sometimes. I think she gets bored." He tried another door, grinning in victory. "Gotcha. Sky?"

Luke slipped around Rory to perch on the edge of the bed, touching Sky's shoulder. "Sky high? Are you awake?"

She stirred, opening her eyes and studying him for several seconds before recognition dawned. "Luke. That isn't your clothes."

He glanced down at himself. "We had a little accident with a swamp. How are you feeling?"

She looked past him at Rory, focusing with some difficulty. "Didn't you tell him? I'm fine. I'm just tired. Being kidnapped is tiring."

She started to roll over and Luke caught her shoulder, pulling her upright to lean against him. "No, Sky. Let Rory look at you."

"He did look at me. I'm fine."

"I did look at her," Rory agreed when Luke looked at him. "She's a fine. A normal, healthy girl."

"Normal," Luke murmured.

"Completely. Why?"

He let Sky lie back down, smiling at her before turning to Rory. "I need your phone."

"My phone," Rory repeated, digging it out of a pocket.

"Please. Thank you." He dialled quickly, listening for a moment before saying "Mr Smith? Is the Doctor there? – Good. Doctor, what powers the TARDIS?"

Rory lost track of the conversation very quickly as it fell into technical terms. Sky was listening, one hand curled loosely around the arm of Luke's shirt; she caught Rory's eye, smiling faintly as Luke argued with the Doctor.

Finally he hung up, passing the phone absently to Rory. "Sky high, we need to get you outside."

"What? Why? I'm tired, Luke."

"I know. It'll help. Promise."

"Why?" she protested.

Luke glanced at Rory for help; he easily picked up the girl, well versed in patient handling. "Why?" he asked, when Luke seemed inclined to forget the question.

"Sky was built to channel electricity," Luke explained, holding the door for him. Andrew, in the corridor, paused to watch the procession before scurrying ahead to get the next door. "She can't do it anymore, not unless she's really upset, but the channels are still there and she needs electricity around."

"With you so far," Rory agreed doubtfully, picking his way carefully down the steps. Andrew slipped around him, steadying him from the side.

"There's electricity in Earth's atmosphere," Luke reminded him. "It's enough, more than enough to keep Sky healthy. But here in the TARDIS we're isolated from it. There's nothing here for her to draw on."

"Is the electrical field on this world strong enough?" Andrew asked, letting go of Rory to open the door.

"Enough for now," Luke agreed. "I can get a field going in here; I need to rewire a couple of things, and I might need your help with that, but it shouldn't be too hard. The Doctor talked it through with me."

"Whose help?" Rory asked, easing to one knee to put Sky down. She looked brighter already, though she was starting to shiver. "Andrew, grab a coat off the stand inside the door, will you?" he added.

"Either of you," Luke said, kneeling beside them. He was in a pile of muck left from earlier, but he didn't seem to notice. "It isn't hard, it's just not easy for one person to do alone."

"He'll do all the hard bits, he just needs someone to hold things," Sky translated.

Andrew reappeared with a huge overcoat, draping it carefully around Sky; it swamped her, covering her completely from head to toe. "It's heavy," she said in surprise.

"It's the Doctor's," Rory told her. "He probably didn't clear out his pockets. They're bigger on the inside."

"Like the TARDIS?"

"Like people," he said absently. "Andrew, you want to help Luke? I'll sit with Sky."

"I don't need anyone to sit with me, I really am fine," she protested.

"Outside at night on an alien planet?" Luke said pointedly. "Someone needs to sit with you."

Sky glanced from Rory to Andrew. "I want Andrew. He doesn't treat me like I'm sick."

"Hazard of the profession," Rory said apologetically. "Andrew, is that all right with you?"

"Sure," Andrew agreed cheerfully. "Luke, what direction is Earth from here?" Luke pointed to the ground some way in front of them and to the left; Andrew turned, carefully, studying the sky. "Huh," he said after a minute. "The stars are all different."

"Twelve million light years," Luke reminded him.

"Yeah, but I thought some might be the same. Never mind, that just means we get to name them and decide what their stories are." He threw himself down beside Sky, stretching full length and staring upwards.

"We'll be just inside," Luke told her.

"And we'll leave the door open," Rory added.

"We're fine," Andrew said dismissively. "Sky, does that look like a bat'leth to you?"

Sky peered upwards curiously; Rory touched Luke's elbow, guiding him back inside. "Bat'leth?" he murmured.

"Andrew's a big sci fi fan," Luke told him, crossing to the console and swinging under it.

"Fan," Rory murmured. Shaking it off, he added "How can I help you?"

"Right now?" Luke said absently. "Is there a torch anywhere?"

"Uh, not sure. He usually uses the screwdriver. Half a sec."

 

 

"Do you plan to inform Sarah Jane?" Mr Smith asked.

The Doctor stared at the phone in his hand. "Would you?"

Mr Smith whirred for a moment, running the problem. "Is it something Luke can fix?" he asked finally.

"Easily, now that he knows it's wrong."

"Then I think not."

"Careful, Doc," Jack warned from where he was leaning against the door. "You're skating perilously close to lying. You don't wanna do that, the lady's angry enough with you as is."

"She has cause," the Doctor reminded him.

"Maybe. How sure are you that Luke can do it?"

"Completely."

"Hmm." Jack considered him. "Well, maybe, then. Are you sure you can't just call the TARDIS back?"

"No, Jack, I've been lying because I like it when Sarah's children are trapped on an alien planet."

"And River?" Jack asked, ignoring the sarcasm. He was about the safest person for the Doctor to vent at.

"I don't know where she is right now. I haven't seen her lately."

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Paradise? Not hardly. We get on best when we're apart, her and me."

"Yeah?" Jack smiled faintly. "You trust her, though. More than anyone else, maybe."

"Jack..."

He shrugged. "One of us dies for you, one of us gave up her lives for you. There's a difference, isn't there?"

"I trust you."

"Yeah." He glanced at the door. "Are you going to tell her?"

"No. Luke will figure it out."

"If you're sure. Tea?"

"I hate the slow path."

"Yeah, it's not much fun, is it?"

 

 

Rani watched as Sarah Jane paced back and forth. She'd been pacing for a while; Rani was surprised there wasn't a track worn into the carpet by now. "Sarah Jane," she said carefully, "can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you." She kept pacing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Still pacing.

"Please sit down, Sarah Jane."

Sarah Jane hesitated, looking at her. "Oh, sorry, Rani."

Rani nodded as she sat. "Look, I know I don't know the Doctor, but if you want to talk about it..."

"No." Sarah Jane smiled at her, an honest smile. "Thank you. But no. It's not... I'll work it out."

"He loves you. And them."

"He doesn't know them."

"I don't think he needs to know them. He just needs to know that they're important to you. Actually..." She reconsidered. "I don't think he even needs that. Didn't you tell me he's always getting involved in things, just because other people are?"

"Amy told me about her first adventure with him," Sarah Jane said distantly. "Rory wasn't with them then, the Doctor had just whisked her off – oh, he's terrible at that, whisk a girl away off her feet. He took her to the future, told her not to interfere – and then he saw a child crying, and that was it. He was in it up to his neck, then."

"Sounds about right," Rani said with a smile.

"You never interfere, unless there's a child crying. That's how he met Amy, too, you know, when she was a child." She smiled at the look on Rani's face. "The TARDIS was damaged when he regenerated, and he met little Amy right after that. He said he had to warm up the engines and he'd pick her up in five minutes."

"And how long was it?"

"Fourteen years."

"Ouch." Rani winced. "Was she angry?"

"Would you be?"

"Dunno," she said slowly. "I'd have to be in the situation."

"Good answer. Yes, she was very angry. Handcuffed him to a radiator."

"He told you that?" she asked in surprise.

"No." Sarah Jane smiled again. "Rory did."

"When do you do all this chatting with them?"

"Mr Smith can reach the TARDIS anywhere in the universe, if it's anywhere near our linear time. Sometimes I call to check up on him. And sometimes I get Rory or Amy instead of the Doctor."

"Does he sleep?"

"He rests. He doesn't need much sleep, and he's never asleep when you go looking for him. But he does rest, yes." She looked away, focusing on something across the room. "He isn't superhuman, Rani. Not even close. Miraculous and wonderful and fantastic, but not superhuman. And he's changed, since the War, he's harder. Colder."

"They'll be all right, Sarah Jane," Rani said, sliding out of her seat to kneel beside Sarah Jane's chair.

"You still believe that?" Sarah Jane said, looking down at her. She looked tired and remote, Rani thought. "After listening to him, and to Xander, and to me, you still believe that?"

"It's Luke and Clyde, and Sky, in a living ship that wants them to be alive and with two Companions who know what they mean to the Doctor. How could they not be all right? They'll be home, you'll see."

Sarah Jane caught her arm, pulling her into a fierce hug. "Do me a favour, will you?" she murmured into the girl's hair. "Keep telling me that? Every time I forget, remind me. Loudly."

Rani laughed. "I will. I promise."

"Thank you." Sarah Jane let go, pushing gently away from her. "Right. Next thing; persuading Xander of that."

Rani shrugged, eyes dancing. "Just remind him how many times Andrew should have died but hasn't, and how he knows exactly what'll happen to him if he comes back without Dawn. That should do it."

 

 

"This one?" Rory asked patiently, holding up another tool.

"No – yes. That should do it. Hold it against that connection there, please."

Rory obeyed, watching the light on the control panel. "Amber," he reported.

"Good. Amber's good. You can let that go now, thank you."

"He's politer than the Doctor," Rory commented, taking a step away from the panel.

"Wouldn't be hard," Amy pointed out. "Can I move yet, Luke?"

"No, just a second. I'm still not sure of that floor."

"You'd want to get sure. I don't fancy the four of you stuck down there and the three of us stuck up here."

"Surely the TARDIS has another way out?" Clyde asked from behind her.

"It's a phone box on the outside," Rory reminded him. "Only one door."

"No fire regulations on – Planet of the Time Lords?"

"Gallifrey," Luke told him. Leaning out from under the console, he touched the floor experimentally. "That's fine now."

No one moved and he sighed, getting to his feet and walking across it, bouncing here and there. "See? It's safe."

"You said that last time, and then electricity went racing through it," Dawn said. Luke glanced up at her and she grinned, holding out a hand. When he took it she stepped lightly off the steps, joining him.

"Don't you dare," Clyde warned her as she leaned in to kiss Luke. She laughed and did it anyway, letting him go and spinning away towards the main door. Clyde followed her, grumbling.

Rory held out a hand to Amy, tugging her to her feet. "Perfectly safe," he told her. "And I've checked all the kids, everyone's fine."

"Does that mean you're off duty, Nurse Pond?" she asked, leaning against him. Luke, still clearing up his tools, carefully looked away.

"Luke!" Clyde yelled from outside, voice high. Sky stumbled in as though pushed from outside; Clyde blocked the door, keeping her in.

"What?" Luke called. Clyde didn't answer, and he flicked on the screen. Amy and Rory joined him, watching over his shoulder. "Clyde, get the others in!"

"Tried that! We move, they move, and they're really fast!"

"What are they?" Sky whispered, coming to join them.

"I don't know," Luke told her, watching the screen as it searched and analysed.

Outside Andrew was standing, a few meters from the TARDIS and absolutely still. Dawn was halfway between them, also stock still. Ringing Andrew were four dark, shadowy shapes; almost nothing about them could be made out, but they were clearly bigger than Andrew, and their stance said they were dangerous.

Luke pushed Sky gently towards Rory, waiting until the other man nodded before stepping around the console and heading for the door. "Luke!" Amy called after him.

"We can't stand around forever," he pointed out, touching Clyde's shoulder and easing him to one side. Amy cursed, following him, but Clyde was back in the doorway and refused to move.

"Still miss Connor?" Luke called, mostly to warn Dawn he was there.

"Depends."

"On?"

"Whether he's stronger than these guys or not, because you know he'd be attacking by now."

"I know," Luke agreed grimly, taking a slow step away from the TARDIS. One of the figures matched his step, crowding Andrew, who whimpered. "Andrew?"

"Fangs," he breathed. Another figure shifted and Andrew clapped both hands over his mouth.

"Dawn," Luke said in careful and badly pronounced Latin, "A stake?"

"Not on me," she said apologetically.

"Something like that?"

"Maybe..."

"Look around." He himself kept his eyes on the shadowy figures. "Andrew, you ok?"

"I don't understand you, your accent is terrible."

"He's fine," Dawn said, taking a step towards them and stumbling. The figure nearest Andrew took another step, passing him and leaving him sandwiched between them. Dawn rose to her feet again, making a show of brushing herself off.

"Any luck?" Luke asked, still not looking at her.

"Depends on your definition of luck, I think. I have one. Might work."

In the TARDIS, Amy shoved at Clyde's shoulder angrily. "What are they saying?"

"I don't speak whatever they're talking."

"I do," Rory offered. "Although Luke's accent is terrible. They're talking about stakes."

"Stakes?" Clyde repeated, turning to look back at him. "What about them?"

"Dawn's found one."

"But they aren't vampires," Sky protested, pulling at the edge of the screen until she could see more clearly. "That's not what they look like, Clyde."

"It's not what they look like on Earth," Clyde agreed, glaring at Amy as she tried to push him aside again.

"How do you know what they look like?" she demanded, giving up on getting him to move. "Spend a lot of time hanging out with vampires?"

"Andrew and Dawn are part of a group who fight them off. Well, them and other demons. When Luke and Dawn got friendly, she made sure we saw pictures of all the ones we were likely to see, just so we'd know what we were looking at."

"How'd you get a picture of a vampire?" Rory wondered. "They shouldn't photo, cameras use mirrors."

"Digital camera," Clyde told him. "You do not want to see a vampire in that much detail, trust me."

"Vampires are real?" Amy asked.

"You live in a space and time ship," Sky reminded her. "Your best friend is a nine hundred year old alien and Rory's two thousand years old."

"Wow, Sarah Jane doesn't keep anything back, does she?" Amy muttered.

"She likes us to be informed," Clyde agreed. "Rory, what's in here that might be good as stakes? Or oh, flamethrower. Got a flamethrower lying around?"

"Probably. Pretty much everything is lying around. But I've no idea where to look."

A yell outside dragged all their attention back; Clyde jumped back to the door in time to block Amy's rush at it, gripping the doorframe tightly. Dawn's stake seemed to have worked; they were facing one less shadowy figure and Andrew was back with them, but her stake was now gone and they were empty handed.

"Luke?" Clyde called from the door.

"No one come out!" he ordered quickly. "If they get past us, Clyde, close the door."

"Luke..."

"You keep Sky inside and close the door, Clyde!"

"You don't have any weapons, you stupid kid!" Amy yelled in frustration. Clyde was shorter than her, but he was very solid and she simply couldn't budge him.

"Don't need weapons." He glanced at Dawn, smiling. "I have physics."

"Physics? What the hell does physics have to do with..."

One of the suns burst over the horizon and the figures started shrieking, smoking and flailing around. Luke immediately shoved Andrew towards the TARDIS, keeping a hand on Dawn's arm and watching critically as the figures blundered around, crashing into each other. Once he was sure they couldn't find shelter in time, he pulled Dawn towards the TARDIS; Clyde hauled them in, closing the door and locking it for good measure.

"You don't need to lock it, it doesn't open from outside unless she knows who you are." Rory didn't look up from examining Andrew as he spoke.

"Yeah, but it looks like wood, so it makes me feel better," Clyde muttered, touching Luke's arm. Luke nodded, grinning at him, and he went up the steps to join Sky.

"Right." Amy clapped her hands together, startling everyone. "What the hell is going on?"


	4. Chapter Four

"Vampires are real," Amy said again.

"That's the fifteenth time you've said that," Andrew said in something approaching awe.

"She's only getting started," Rory said, crouching to offer Luke a tool.

"Yes, they're real," Dawn said patiently, mostly ignoring the byplay. "So are a lot of other things; we think some of what you think are aliens are probably demons, and some of our demons are probably really aliens. We're still working on that one."

"You meet aliens all the time," Clyde added. "Why is demons harder?"

"Wait, I know this one!" Sky said suddenly. "Xander and Rani talked about this once. It's because aliens are alien, but demons are on Earth and it's more jarring that way. In space you expect to see aliens and things. You don't expect it in..."

"Leadworth," Luke said when she faltered. "How does that feel, Sky high?"

"That's fine. It feels just like home."

"Good." He fastened the covering back over the wires he'd been working on, accepting Rory's hand up. "Let me know if you start feeling tired again, ok?"

"Unless it's real, been up for hours tired," Clyde added. "And I think we're all getting to that point. How long are the suns going to be up, Luke?"

"Second sunrise is in about three hours and they'll both be down again in about fifteen."

"Good, then we have time to get some rest before we go check out that village."

"Who said anything about the village?" Rory protested.

"Trust me, that was going to be the next thing. Are there bedrooms somewhere around?"

"Yeah, the TARDIS will set some up for you."

"I'm not tired," Andrew said, escaping whining by the narrowest margin possible. "I want to stay here and look around."

"You can't stay here on your own," Dawn told him, ignoring the pout. "You know that. With your luck you'd touch one button – or crank one crank, or _boing_ one spring, why does it even have a spring? – and we'd end up getting chased by dinosaurs."

"Oooh, dinosaurs!" he said brightly. Catching sight of the look on her face he added quickly, "I'm joking, dinosaurs are not cool. Who'd want to see dinosaurs? Not me."

Rory started to speak but Amy elbowed him in the stomach. "Well we can't stay up with you, we're tired," she said brightly. "I'm sure you kids can sort that out. Come on, Rory." Wheezing slightly, he followed her, waving apologetically at Luke as he passed him.

"I'll..." Luke started.

"No," Clyde interrupted him. "You will not sit up with Andrew, you've been crawling around rewiring things. You definitely have to get some sleep."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "Come on, Luke." She ran a hand down his arm to grip his hand and he was following her before he even realised.

"That's just not fair," he muttered.

"No, but it's so easy," she agreed lightly.

"Ew," Sky protested.

"Sorry, Sky," Dawn said, completely unapologetic. "You come too. Andrew, don't make Clyde stay up too long, he's tired."

Andrew glanced apologetically at Clyde as the others left the room. "We don't have to stay up."

"I don't mind for a bit. It is pretty cool in here."

"I never want to leave," Andrew murmured, turning in a slow circle. "Every time I look it's different."

Clyde glanced down at his hand; there was no hint of the artron energy that normally pooled there, hadn't been since they'd crashed here. "You should have seen it when the last Doctor was here."

"Yeah?" Andrew glanced absently at him, still studying the console. "Was it different?"

"Yeah. A bit. You can still tell it's the same place, but..." He shrugged, pressing a hand against the nearest pillar. "I guess it changes to match him. Don't you, gorgeous?" The pillar pulsed under his hand and he smiled.

Andrew was watching him when he looked up. "What is that about?" he demanded. "You and Luke keep touching it."

"Her," Clyde corrected him easily. "Of course we're touching her, everyone's touching her."

"Not the way you are," Andrew told him.

"Well, she likes me. Not sure what Luke's excuse is, but it's probably something about his massive brain. It's usually that." He pressed against the pillar briefly, pushing away and heading for the stairs. "Come on. Dawn'll be back to hunt us down pretty soon."

"You know her so well," Andrew murmured, trailing behind him.

None of them slept for very long, but they looked better for the rest and the meal Clyde and Dawn sorted out once everyone was awake. Luke didn't bother making Sky stay behind this time, but he did make sure everyone was carrying stakes before they left the TARDIS.

He got Rory on his own as they were milling around getting ready. "Mr Williams?"

"Rory," Rory said patiently. The other kids seemed to have got it, but Luke was still adamantly calling him by his surname and it was weird. "What's up?"

"I wanted – I'm not trying to take over, or anything."

"Sorry?"

Luke flushed. "I keep telling everyone what to do."

"Oh, that! Don't worry about it, I never get to tell Amy and the Doctor what to do anyway. Not unless it's about something medical."

"Andrew's older, and he probably could be in charge; he runs Slayer Teams at home, only he does it sneakily when the others aren't looking. But he's too distracted by the alien stuff right now."

"Luke, no one minds. You're not doing it to make yourself important. Trust me, if Amy had a problem with it she'd let you know."

"Yeah, and you ever lock me in the TARDIS again you're in trouble," Amy told him, draping an arm around Rory's shoulders and grinning as he jumped. "Sorry," she said insincerely.

"No, you're not," Rory muttered.

"No I'm not. What are you boys talking about? You look very serious over here. You're just lucky Dawn's distracting Andrew."

"It's not hard," Luke pointed out. "All she has to do is say Look, alien grass! and he's busy for five minutes."

"True," Amy agreed, "but not really the point. What are you talking about?"

"Luke thinks we're mad he's been telling us what to do, so he's pre emptively apologising."

"Oh? Are you planning on telling us what to do, Luke?"

"Not planning on it," Luke assured her. "These are vampires, though, or something very close to them; we should probably be listening to Dawn or Andrew."

"Got the potted history of vampires from Andrew, thanks. Sunlight or fire, decapitation, stake through the heart. That's why Rory's wearing this." She tapped the scabbard he'd mostly hidden under his jacket.

"Is that really your sword?" Luke asked, studying it as best he could.

"Nah, my sword never existed now. It's a fair replica, though. The Doctor brought me to Rome to pick it up."

"Why?"

Rory grimaced. "I needed a sword. And – the whole outfit – how's Sky feeling?"

Luke nodded, diverted. "Better. She says she feels fine now. The field out here will keep her going; it's close enough to Earth's."

"Luke, come on!" Clyde yelled from the edge of the clearing. "The suns'll be going down again!"

"We've got nearly seven hours, Clyde, and if it takes that long I'll be more worried about the ammonia," Luke said, but he went to join him anyway.

"Nice kid," Amy murmured, wrapping the other arm around Rory's neck and kissing him briefly.

"He worries a lot," Rory agreed when he could catch his breath.

"Reminds me of someone else I know. Come on. We should at least try to keep up with the kids."

"Andrew's our age, you know."

"And what a terrifying thought that is, isn't it?"

 

Sarah Jane was polite, if a little remote, when she came back into the attic; she didn't stay long, just long enough to check on them and offer food. Both politely turned her down and she went back downstairs, ordering Jack to come and find her if they wanted anything.

"Have you told Luke where he is?" Jack asked quietly.

"No."

"Are you going to?"

The Doctor looked up at him. "Would you? Knowing the choices he'll have to make? Would you warn him about them first?"

"He's a good kid, doc."

"He's Sarah's son, of course he's a good kid. But be fair, Jack. You know what happens there. You must do."

"I know the legends."

"They're surprisingly accurate. All legends have a grain of truth, you know – would you want to know? To worry about it before hand?"

"It might make it easier."

"Easier? For Luke Smith? Knowing what's coming and what he's going to have to do? Knowing never makes it easier. And besides, Dawn Summers makes a habit of kicking against 'have to' and 'going to be'. If she knew she'd kick without thinking and that won't make it any easier for him either."

"Are you going to tell Rory and Amy?"

"No, and you're not to either. They have their part to play, and I don't know if they'll do it if they know it's coming."

"Don't trust them?" Jack asked softly.

"Oh, Jack. Jack Harkness. I trust them as much as I trust you, how's that?"

"It'll do. For now."

"Pardon me," Mr Smith said politely. "May I know to what you are referring?"

"What an awkwardly phrased sentence," the Doctor said thoughtfully. "And no, you may not."

"Why not?"

"Much better; short and to the point. You may not, Mr Smith, because you would tell Sarah. And I'm not having this argument again."

"Are you so unsure that you cannot argue your side again?"

Jack laughed, startled. "Oh, he's good. You're good, Mr Smith. Ever consider working for Torchwood?"

"My purpose is to protect Earth. I can fulfil that more easily and to better effect here than I could in Cardiff."

"He is good," the Doctor agreed, smiling at Jack's pout.

Rani tapped at the door, putting her head in. "Mind if I hang out up here for a while? Sarah Jane's pacing downstairs, she's making me motion sick."

"Come in," Jack agreed, rising to his feet.

"Perhaps Rani would be interested in your conversation," Mr Smith said blandly.

"Mr Smith, you traitor," Jack said mock angrily.

"Loyal to Sarah," the Doctor said again, more thoughtfully.

"What conversation?" Rani asked, looking from him to Jack and back.

"The Doctor and Captain Harkness have some knowledge of what will happen to Luke and the others," Mr Smith told her. "They are debating passing on their knowledge."

"What?" She turned on the Doctor. "If you know you have to tell him!"

"No."

"Why not?" She took a step back, studying him, and then turned to Jack. "What happens? Are they hurt? Jack!"

"If it goes the same way, no one is hurt," Jack said carefully.

"What do you mean, 'if it goes the same way'? If you remember it, it has to go that way!"

"No," Jack corrected her; he was mildly impressed that she was following this well. Obviously being a friend of the Doctor, even at a remove, had a knock on effect. "I remember hearing legends, when I was growing up. But there's nothing to say that what Luke and the others do now will be the same as it was to inspire those legends. It's happening to them _now._ And..." He looked up, catching the Doctor's eye.

"Time can be rewritten," he murmured.

"I'm sorry?" Rani said.

"It's – fluid. Not stable. You remember moving here three – four? – years ago, but yesterday you may have grown up on this street. Some people are fixed -" he deliberately didn't look at Jack as he spoke, "and some events will always happen, no matter what. But mostly, yes. Time is fluid, and it can be changed."

Rani had paled. "How can you tell?"

He smiled sadly at her. "Be a Time Lord. If there's another way I don't know it."

"The Time Agency could tell, sometimes," Jack offered. "If it was a big enough disruption."

"Yes, the Shadow Proclamation could see the big things, but they had to be really huge. Planets in the sky huge."

"I remember that," Rani said distantly. "That was just before we moved here, probably."

The Doctor smiled at her again. "Your timeline is clear. Except for..." he tilted his head, frowning. "A snag there. It's been smoothed out, but...did you met another time sensitive alien?"

"Eve." Rani smiled. "She was – actually, we never found out what she was. Stranded, and lonely – but she found friends, and she's gone."

"Problem?" Jack asked softly.

"No, no. It's been fixed. Very skilfully, actually." He bowed slightly to Rani. "Your timeline is clear and has always been as you remember it."

"Can you really see that?" Rani asked.

"Yes."

"Doesn't that – overwhelm? Luke remembers everything he sees and sometimes he has to stop, take a day off and do nothing. Sort and file the information."

"Not for a Time Lord." His face had darkened and he turned away, back to poke uselessly at Mr Smith. Jack caught Rani's eye and waved her off and she nodded quickly.

"Can I help with something, Doctor?" she asked, deliberately lifting her voice to sound happy.

"Actually, yes. Can you drive?"

"Drive?" she repeated.

"I need K9 and I believe he's in Oxford. I don't know where Luke's room is or how to get in, but I'm guessing you do."

Rani thought for a minute. "I can drive, but I don't have a car."

"I can help you out there," Jack said with a smile.

She nodded. "Mr Smith, can you contact K9?"

"If he is powered on." Mr Smith whirred for a moment. "My apologies, Rani, he seems to be powered off at the moment."

"All right," she agreed, holding out a hand to Jack for the keys. "Keep trying. If you get through, tell him that Sanjay'll be coming to pick him up and bring him down to the gate, and he's to allow it. Jack, Sarah Jane'll have to make that call." She blinked at the look on his face. "It'll save time, I can just drive by and pick him up."

"K9 could get himself to the gate," the Doctor pointed out.

"Yes, but he'd be noticed. Sanjay can just carry him down and it won't be as obvious."

"Thinks of all the angles," Jack said approvingly. "I like you, Rani. Want to work for Torchwood when you graduate?"

"Sure. I'll let you tell Sarah Jane, will I?"

"Ooooh," he laughed. "On second thoughts, invited rescinded. I'm not getting between that mamma bear and her cubs."

Rani grinned. "Thought so. Mr Smith, you'll keep trying?"

"I shall, Rani," he agreed.

"Thanks. I'll be – well, a couple of hours, I guess."

"We'll be here," the Doctor promised, watching her leave.

 

The hike to the village was a little more pleasant than the hike to the temple had been; the slope was much more gentle in this direction and there were far less trees and rocks to interfere with them. It was almost like a stroll and after a while everyone relaxed, enjoying the walk. The two suns made the day warm and dry but not hot; Dawn made everyone keep sipping water anyway.

Sky wandered along with Andrew, occasionally pointing out interesting plants. Rory made them promise not to actually pick anything; he didn't want to risk a bad reaction out here, and both agreed cheerfully and kept looking. Dawn had taken Luke's hand after a few minutes and they were walking together, talking softly.

Amy took pity on Clyde and made sure not to hold Rory's hand. Clyde smiled thankfully at her, walking with them. "So what's up with the sword?" he asked.

"Long story," Rory said absently, watching Andrew warily as he approached a stand of trees.

"Well? We've got a long walk, haven't we?"

"He's got a point," Amy agreed.

Rory sighed. "There was a timeline where I was an Auton – that's a plastic being – cast in the mould of a Roman soldier. And I was that for two thousand years; Autons don't age or die. I don't really remember it unless I try, but some of the instincts and things have crossed over. I can use some of the skills."

"And the Latin," Clyde realised.

"And the Latin," Rory agreed. "Luke's accent really is terrible, you know."

"Yeah, he's always been terrible at languages. No one's really sure why, he's always good at everything else he does."

"He has to be bad at something, I suppose," Rory said philosophically.

"What caused the timeline?"

"Sorry?"

"The other timeline, the Roman Auton one. What caused it?"

"Oh – that was the original timeline, this is the new one, but it has to do with being sucked out of time and dying in the past, all very complicated, and only Amy's and my timelines actually changed. Why?"

"I've been to other timelines. One was when Sarah Jane's parents didn't die. That one was pretty awful. And there was a nightmare one – that was just a nightmare, though."

"Anyone have a ponytail?" Amy asked, grinning at Rory's betrayed look.

"No," Clyde said warily. "No ponytails. I mean, there was only me and one other person, but no."

They walked in silence for a moment before he said, "Really a Roman?"

Luke smiled as Rory attempted to explain something again to Clyde. "This is nice," he murmured, squeezing Dawn's hand lightly.

"It is nice, isn't it? We should get kidnapped to vampire infested alien planets more often." Ahead of them Andrew squealed in delight and she smiled reluctantly. "We could leave the kids at home next time, though."

"Sky's been really good," Luke protested dutifully.

"Yes, but if we left the kids at home, it would be just us. Alone. On an alien planet with no one else around. Just you and me..."

Luke jumped away from her, fumbling with his bottle. "Sky, come have a drink!" he called, voice shockingly high pitched.

Clyde wandered up, laying a companiable arm across Dawn's shoulders. "You are cruel to him."

"I know," she agreed, mock regretfully. "I should really be nicer to him, it's just so much fun this way."

"Cruel, cruel, cruel," he said with a sigh.

"I know, but what can I do about it?" she asked innocently.

"Stop teasing him?"

"Not nearly as much fun."

"Long as he's having fun too," Clyde said, faintly warning. Dawn nodded and he turned away, taking the bottle from Sky and teasing her when she tried to get it back.

"We should keep going." Luke stopped and coughed; when he spoke again his voice was back in its normal register. "We don't want to get caught outside when the suns go down."

"We're nearly there," Andrew pointed out, coming back towards them.

"Then let's keep going." Luke glanced back at Rory, who waved him on, still ambling along behind them.

The group moved on; Luke kept Sky with him and Dawn made Andrew stay with them instead of wandering off to look at whatever caught his eye. Clyde slid in front of them, keeping an eye out.

There were fields on the other side of the village, but this side was clear; the houses just started abruptly. Clyde halted just before walking between two buildings, looking around carefully.

"Something's not right here," he murmured, still studying the buildings he could see.

"What is it?" Rory called, catching up.

"Listen."

"What are we listening for?" Amy asked.

"What do you hear?"

Amy frowned, listening. "Nothing."

"Right. Andrew, jog back a bit until you can see the fields and tell me how many people you can see."

Andrew obeyed, backing up until he could see between the houses. "No one," he said after a minute. "I can't see anyone."

"The suns are up and there's no one in the fields. And there's nothing to hear. No one's moving around the village. This isn't right."

Luke nodded. "We have to go in anyway, Clyde."

"What I wouldn't give for a good lippy right now," Clyde muttered, ignoring the strange looks. "Let's all be careful, then. Sparky, you stick with your brother, ok?" Sky nodded, clinging to Luke's sleeve, and Clyde started forward.

The houses were arranged roughly around an open area that he mentally dubbed the square; they paused when they got there, bunching together to examine the buildings around them. Still no one was visible, but there were signs of a fight; a door was hanging open on one house, furniture had been smashed and left around, and a roof was smoking gently, though the fire was long gone out. Feathers from some kind of bird were scattered around.

"Luke," Sky said softly. "They're in there." She waved to the largest building.

"How can you tell?" Amy asked, stepping up on Luke's other side.

"Listen," Sky said; when Amy rolled her eyes she said more firmly, "Listen."

"Oh, yeah," Rory said. "I hear that."

"It's a meeting, or something," Luke murmured. "It's a group."

"It's a group fighting," Dawn said, wincing as one voice rose angrily above the others. "Luke, I don't think we want to walk into that."

"No, I don't think so," he agreed.

"We're just going to hang around out here?" Clyde asked.

"They're angry, Clyde, and they were attacked last night. Who do you think attacked them?"

"Yes, but it's day. We're obviously not vampires."

"They haven't been attacked before," Andrew pointed out. "Or, not for a while. They're not used to it."

"How can you tell?" Rory asked.

"Because if they dropped tools and had a meeting every time they were attacked they'd starve, Rory," Amy told him. "Andrew's right, it's been a while. Being strangers around here is looking like a worse and worse idea." 

"Oh, like everything the Doctor does, then."

"Oi. Be nice."

"I am. This is me being nice. Want me to try for nasty?"

"I'm not sure you could, mate," Clyde offered.

"Oh yeah? Shorty?"

"Oh, ouch," Clyde said flatly, pressing both hands to his heart. "Your rapier wit has wounded me."

Rory looked at Amy for support, and she shook her head. "That was kind of sad, Rory."

"Oh, thanks for the support. That really means a lot to me, you know."

"Guys." Luke was backing up, one hand firmly around Sky's arm; they reached Dawn and he paused, pressing his back to hers and keeping Sky firmly between them. Andrew was hovering on his other side, watching the building.

The doors opened and people started to pour out; they got several steps from the building before noticing the little group and jerking to a halt. Luke glanced at Clyde, who pushed his way forward.

"Um – hi. We're just passing through, don't mind us."

"Clyde, get back here," Amy said through gritted teeth, gesturing him to back up towards them. When he was close enough she caught at his sleeve, tugging him back to join them.

A man pushed through the group, shouting, and Andrew flinched. "Um – betrayers, defilers, murderers – they're not very happy with us."

"How come you can understand them?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah, and how come we can't?" Amy added. "The TARDIS is supposed to translate for us all the time."

"The Doctor's not here," Rory reminded her.

"And they're using the same language as was on the temple," Andrew added. "Well, sort of. Close enough."

"Can you speak it?" Luke demanded.

"About as much as you can speak Latin."

"Luke, we've got weapons over here!" Clyde called.

"I see them. Andrew, try. And if it doesn't work, do what I said."

"I hate what you said," Andrew told him, but he took a step forward, clearing his throat and hesitantly speaking.

The crowd, who'd been yelling what they assumed were threats, fell silent as he stumbled through the words. The first man was listening carefully; when Andrew stuttered to a halt he asked a question. Andrew nodded frantically and he turned to yell at the crowd.

"Andrew," Amy hissed.

"I told him we were stranded and we'd just got here. He asked if we'd been to the ruins and I said yes."

"That might not have been smart," Clyde muttered. The crowd was thinning, most people throwing resentful glares at them as they went; Rory took advantage of the more empty clearing to haul Clyde and Amy back to rejoin the others.

When almost everyone had gone the headman spoke to Andrew again. "Um, he wants us to come into the meeting house and talk."

"All right," Luke agreed. "Clyde, take Dawn and Sky back to the TARDIS."

"What? No chance, mate."

"Clyde..."

"No," Dawn agreed.

"Don't be stupid," Sky agreed. "Splitting up never works anyway. Don't you watch horror movies?"

"Not if I can avoid it," he muttered. "Sky..."

"No. No more splitting up."

"Uh, he's getting kind of impatient," Andrew put in.

"And those look like muscle to me," Rory added, glancing towards the handful of men lingering around the edges of the clearing. "Luke..."

"Yes. All right. Sky, if anything happens, I'm telling Mum on you."

"Yes, I'm terrified," she agreed. "Come on."

Inside the headman gestured them to sit on the rough wooden benches still in rows in the room. Andrew fidgeted uncertainly at the end of a bench, waiting for something to happen.

"Ask him his name," Clyde suggested.

Andrew nodded, fumbling through the question and hastily introducing his group when asked. "His name is Asoka," he said finally. "He's been the headman here for – well, it doesn't really translate, their way of measuring time doesn't match ours, but a long time. Years."

"And they haven't been attacked before?"

"Not in living memory, he says. There's legends of it happening a long time ago, but nothing on how to beat them. The best they ever managed was to hunker down and get through it."

"That can't be right," Dawn protested. "Vampires don't just stop for no reason; they're killed or they run out of victims, that's it."

"I'm just telling you what he's saying," Andrew said, wounded. 

"Andrew, what do they think triggered the attack?" Luke asked, watching Asoka.

Andrew posed the question, listened to the answer and winced, reaching for the bench and sitting down hard. "We did. They think we did. And they think the only way to stop it is to feed us to them as tribute."


	5. Chapter Five

"I don't know about you, but I didn't release any vampires!" Clyde hissed.

"We went to the ruins," Dawn reminded him. She was watching Luke and Andrew discuss it with Asoka; to the headman's credit he seemed genuinely upset by the whole thing.

"We never even got there, you guys fell in the swamp first! We didn't disturb anything."

"We disturbed the swamp."

Clyde grimaced. "Swamp is just muck and water. It gets disturbed a hundred times a day when frogs jump in."

"Did you see any frogs? I didn't. And besides, we're bigger than frogs."

"That sounds like a trick question," he said warily.

"It wasn't a question at all."

"Still sounds like a trick, so I'm gonna go over here." Grinning at her mock outrage, he wandered over to where Rory was entertaining Sky with stories of their adventures and Amy was pacing within a space of about four feet. "Hey, guys."

"Hey," Rory answered.

"What are we talking about?"

"Did you know there were vampires in Venice?" Sky told him. "In the sixteenth century."

"Too long ago for me, I run into trouble any further back than about a hundred years."

"We're a fair bit further back than that right now," Amy pointed out, pacing past them and pivoting on her heel.

"Yeah, but I'm not expected to know anything about what's going on. Or what has been going on."

Luke came back to join them, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Hey," he murmured, slumping onto the bench.

"What's going on?" Clyde asked, making room for him.

"Well, I think Andrew's talked them into a stay of execution – sorry, Sky, I'm only joking. They're not going to hurt us."

"Yet," Clyde murmured. Luke glared and he grimaced. "Yeah, I got it. How'd Andrew do it?"

"Um –" Luke winced, glancing at where Andrew was still talking to Asoka. "He volunteered us to fight when the vampires come back tonight."

"Excuse me?" Amy protested.

"You don't have to, you or Rory. And Sky won't be. But the rest of us will, and Andrew's going to show some of the villagers what to do." Glancing at Clyde, he added, "He might need some help with that."

"I'm there," Clyde agreed. "Listen, if the vampires have always come from the temple and hunted the village, what brought them to the TARDIS? It's not like it was visible from the temple."

"Oh. That might have been our fault, Dawn and me."

"What's our fault?" she asked, joining them.

"The vampire last night tracked the sludge we brought back from the swamp. That's how it found us."

"Ew," Dawn muttered. Luke nodded grimly, and she sighed. "Well, another reason to stay out of stinky swamps. Sky, come with me?"

"Where are you going?" Luke asked.

"We're going to find wood to make stakes from. Andrew drafted me, and I'm pretty sure Sky wants to be useful rather than sitting around while the men do the work."

"Hey!" Amy protested.

"Sorry, while the men and Amy do the work."

"Better."

Dawn grinned. "Want to come whittle stakes?"

"Sounds like so much fun," Amy said with a sigh. "Rory?"

"What? No. I'll catch up to you." He crossed to join Andrew and Asoka, listening for a moment before breaking in. "Andrew, was anyone hurt last night?"

"Two of the men."

"Is that all?"

"It's all that didn't die yet."

Rory reflexively made a face at that. "Ask Asoka if I can help."

"You don't speak the language."

"They're human, right? Or human-ish? Medicine is fairly universal. I'd like to try, anyway."

Andrew nodded, turning back to Asoka, and the pair spoke for a minute or two. Finally Andrew nodded, turning back to Rory while Asoka waved over another man. "This man will take you. Be careful, Rory, they're very jumpy and I have to stay here with Asoka."

"I'll be careful," he promised.

"And leave that here," Andrew added, pointing to the sword Rory was still wearing. "Just to be safe." Rory sighed, undoing the belt and passing it over carefully.

"Guard that with your life, Andrew," he warned.

"I will," Andrew promised, holding it carefully. He was actually fairly competent, Rory noted; life with the Slayer army had obviously taught him a few things.

"Good." Rory went back to the others to tell them briefly what he was doing before following his guide – or guard – from the meeting room.

Clyde looked after him uncertainly. "Want me to go with him?" he asked Luke.

"No. Thanks. Stick around here until Andrew is finished."

"Can do, boss." Clyde studied him for a minute. "Relax a bit, Luke. Everyone's all right."

"For now," Luke agreed.

"Now's the only thing we can control."

He smiled faintly. "Look who got philosophical while I was away."

"I know. It always surprises people. It's great, you should have seen Mr Chandra when I busted it out on him."

"It doesn't surprise me," Luke corrected him.

"Uh huh. Relax a bit, Luke. Hey, Andrew? Any chance of something to eat or drink?"

Andrew waved without looking at him and kept talking; he was gaining confidence the longer he spoke, and Asoka was being very patient, occasionally correcting his pronunciation but more often just letting him fumble through on his own. After a few minutes Asoka called an order to another one of the guards, who vanished and came back with a bowl and a couple of cups of water. The bowl had a mix of nuts and grains; Clyde took a couple of handfuls and passed the whole thing to Luke.

"Eat something," he ordered.

Luke obediently nibbled at it. "This is good," he said in surprise. "Thanks, Asoka!"

The tone, if not the meaning, must have gotten through; Asoka glanced over and bowed his head in acknowledgment. Luke echoed the bow, eating a little more.

The girls came back a little later, carrying armloads of branches; some pantomime with a guard produced stone blades and they began the slow process of whittling stakes. Intrigued, several of the guards joined in. Dawn borrowed Andrew for a few minutes to explain why they were doing what they were doing, and once they understood the rest of the guards joined in as well. It was still slow, difficult work; the stone blades were razor sharp but they wore down much faster than steel, and they kept having to switch out for new blades.

By the time Rory came back, dropping to sit on the floor beside Amy, they had a fairly respectable pile of stakes; he picked up a branch and blade and began to work, movements quick and sure. "How was the nursing?" Clyde asked, watching him.

"Oh, they'll live. One's going to take a while to recover, though, he broke some ribs. The other just lost some blood. He'll be up and around in a day or so."

"You should get someone to keep an eye on him," Dawn said. "Just in case."

"He didn't drink any blood. Isn't that what you need to become a vampire?"

"On Earth, yeah. These things are similar, but not exactly the same."

"All right." Rory put down his half completed stake. "I'll go tell Andrew."

Clyde waited until he was gone to pick up the stake. "How's he do that?" he marvelled, turning it over in his hands. "He's practically finished and I've still got twigs on mine!"

"He's very good with his hands," Amy said, deliberately holding his gaze.

"Ew, TMI. Thanks, though." He put the stake back down as Rory rejoined them. "Nice technique, mate."

Dawn collapsed, laughing helplessly on Luke's shoulder. Luke kept diligently working on his stake, but he wasn't meeting anyone's eyes and his cheeks were red. Sky just looked confused.

"Not bad," Amy judged. "Good reaction. You've got to be more careful who you inuend at, though."

"I wasn't...oh! Oh, no!" He scooted away from Rory. "No offense, mate, but no!"

"Thanks, Clyde, none taken." Rory sighed, laying down a complete finished stake. "Need me to finish yours off?"

Andrew had to come over and make them be quiet after that.

 

By the time the suns were going down they'd assembled a fairly sizable pile of stakes, and Andrew and Dawn had showed the villagers the basics of fighting vampires. Luke still wasn't sure about it, but it seemed the best chance they had.

Amy had agreed to fight. Rory was staying with the two injured men, and two women of the village, barely out of their teens, who'd been deputised as nurses. Sky, after a lot of arguing with Luke, agreed to stay and help him, but she was reluctant and Clyde warned Rory to keep an eye on her in case she ran off when his back was turned. Dawn and Andrew had never even questioned whether or not they'd be fighting.

Asoka had set an example by learning everything he could from Andrew. Several of his men were carrying blades on long poles in the hope of beheading, and others were stationed around the village with bow and arrows and burning brands. They'd discussed lighting fires around the village, but Andrew shouted them down; the advantages of extra light weren't worth the loss of night vision every time anyone turned their head. They'd just have to do their best. There was no moon, but the sky was full of stars and once they'd adjusted it wasn't too hard to see.

Luke, Clyde and Amy were stationed in the square; every non combatant in the village was sheltering in the meeting hall and Luke's group, along with half a dozen guards, were the last line of defence in case any of the vampires got through the others. No one seemed sure how many vampires they'd be facing; no one had been able to take a count the previous night. Consensus was at least ten, though, and everyone in Luke's group – with the possible exception of Amy and Rory – knew what ten vampires could do to a group of humans, even a much larger group.

The second sun went down and everyone tensed immediately, even though they all knew the vampires had to travel from the ruins and couldn't possibly get here that fast. Everyone stayed on edge for a long time, waiting for something, anything to happen. Time dragged past with nothing happening; Luke estimated at least a couple of hours had passed since sundown when Dawn came back to check on them and tell them that nothing was happening.

"How long before dawn?" she asked Luke softly.

"Um..." he glanced up, eyeing the stars. "Ten hours? Give or take."

"And what do you think is the absolute latest they could attack and still be safe?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"On whether they were planning on leaving survivors or not," he said grimly. "If not, anything up to an hour before dawn. If yes, maybe two hours; they have to leave time to get back to the ruins."

"They have to leave survivors. Where would they get new victims?"

"They don't need them. Not the way the vampires on Earth do; they've survived longer than anyone here's been alive without feeding, and they didn't look insane or malnourished to me."

"No," she agreed softly. "Ok, so you think the absolute limit is an hour before dawn."

"Yes. Remember they're not expecting us to fight back. They think they can just sweep in like last night."

"Lucky for us, huh? Be careful, Luke."

She turned to head back to the others; Luke caught her arm, tugging her around and kissing her quickly. "Be careful," he echoed when he pulled back, smiling at her dazed look.

"Um." She coughed, one hand drifting up to her lips. "Yes. Careful. I – yes."

She turned to leave again; Luke tightened the hand that was still on her arm, turning her to face the right direction before letting go. She hurried off, determinedly ignoring Clyde's admiring whistle.

"Nice," he said, getting a thump on the arm from Luke. "Oh, nice!" he repeated in a different tone. "Give me a dead arm just before we have to fight vampires."

"I didn't give you a dead arm," Luke said patiently.

"She looked very surprised to me," Amy noted. "Don't you kiss her much, Luke?"

"We can't all be kissograms," he said, in such an innocent tone that it took Amy a moment to realise what he'd just said.

"Huh. You might be all right after all, kid."

He smiled tightly, turning to watch between the houses where Andrew was just visible demonstrating a staking motion again. The group around him included two girls and Luke smiled, thinking that at least there was something familiar here. Andrew wasn't normally allowed to teach the slayers without supervision, but he did help with some of the classes.

More time dragged past. Luke watched the stars whenever he could, refining his time sense. All the physics he'd learned in school said this planet shouldn't be possible; he'd known, from Mr Smith, that binary systems did exist, but they'd never studied them together. The length of the days seemed to vary and he longed to be able to talk to Asoka, to learn how it worked and how they lived their lives.

Amy dropped beside him, considering him for a minute. "Are we supposed to be worrying about the argon?"

"Ammonia," he corrected her absently. "And no. We'll get back to the TARDIS during the day tomorrow, and that'll be fine. There isn't enough to harm us in this length of time."

"We'll get back or we'll all die," she agreed lightly.

"Either way, the ammonia won't bother us."

"It won't be your fault, you know."

"I don't need the pep talk, Amy. Thank you. I'm all right."

"Sure?"

"Yes. Thank you." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You can still give it, if you want, but I don't need it."

"Nah, it's not as much fun that way."

He smiled, looking up again. "Do you see those three stars? In a sort of triangle, just above that tree?"

Amy leaned across, following his gaze. "Yeah, think so."

"That's the Milky Way. Earth's in there somewhere."

"And what's happening there?"

"Seven million years ago? It's the Neogene period. Gorillas and chimpanzees diverging from the human line. It's Miocene series, Tortonian stage. Forests being overtaken by grasslands. Mammals and birds diversifying everywhere. More cetaceans in the oceans than at any other time in Earth's history."

"And no human life," Amy murmured.

"No. More than six million years before humans appear on Earth. There are only seven homo sapiens sapiens in the universe right now."

"What about these guys?" She jerked her head towards the guards.

"They're something similar. But not human. You must have seen that before."

Amy shrugged. "We mostly hang around on Earth or human worlds in the future, actually." She smiled at the look on Luke's face. "Not what you'd do with a space and time machine?"

"I don't know what I'd do," Luke said honestly. "But I think I'd like to – look."

"Look?" Amy repeated.

Luke registered distantly that Clyde had drifted close enough to listen, but it didn't bother him. He didn't keep secrets from Clyde, not important ones. "See the Milky Way stars?"

"Yup." Amy tilted her head back to look at them.

"Look a little left. There's two stars together, and there's a third one below them, kind of on the right."

"Um – yep. Got them."

Luke lifted a hand to trace the shape of the three stars. "In between those, there's a nebula. A thousand, thousand stars being born. Everywhere you look, another one coming into being. So many you couldn't focus on just one..." His hand dropped abruptly to his lap. "I think I'd start there and work out."

"Not work up?"

"I don't know that you can go up from there."

Someone screamed near the village boundary and Luke jack-knifed to his feet, holding out a hand to tug her up after him. The scream was a signal, not necessarily a sign that anything had gone wrong, but everyone in the clearing had tensed anyway, listening intently.

Fighting began on the other side of the village, screams and yells, defiance clear in every sound. As near as they could tell the vampires had been taken by surprise and were on the run, circling the village to rejoin the first group. The villagers gave chase, all but a few who stayed to guard against any last attacks.

Clyde was listening carefully; Andrew and Askoa had been on that side of the village. "I dunno," he said after a moment. "I can't tell what's going on."

Amy spun suddenly, yelling as someone stumbled into the clearing. The vampire looked up, bared its fangs and charged; three guards brought it down and a forth stabbed it valiantly, blinking in surprise when nothing happened.

Clyde wandered over, pulled out the stake and repositioned it, stabbing down in one quick motion. The men pinning the vampire fell in a heap as it crumbled away beneath them, yelling in complaint.

"Sorry," Clyde apologised, holding out a hand to one of them. He took it, letting Clyde haul him to his feet, and snapped what was probably 'Shut up and get on your feet' at the others. Watching Clyde carefully, he made a stabbing motion and touched a spot on his own chest. Clyde corrected him, moving his hand half an inch to the right; the man looked down, memorising the position, and then bowed in thanks. Clyde echoed the bow, smiling as he turned and started yelling at the others, making them demonstrate the right place over and over.

"Nice," Amy congratulated him when he came back.

"Hang around Dawn and Connor long enough, you get to know how to stake a vampire. I swear the things follow them around."

"Well, birds of a feather," Amy said vaguely. "Is that more fighting?"

Flaming arrows were flying on the ruinward side of the village. They watched as they hit; small fires spouted, some moving, so they knew at least a few vampires had been hit. A house flared up; two of the guards detached themselves from the group and ran to help quench it. Dawn appeared briefly, waved an ok! at them and vanished again.

"Being in this part of the team sucks," Amy said fiercely. "Remind me not to do this again."

"You don't like having the easy part?" Clyde asked, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other.

"The last time I didn't fight - bad things happened."

"Careful what you..." Luke cut himself off. "Express in the form of a hope," he muttered, turning to look over his shoulder at the meeting hall. Clyde had been half expecting Sky to break out, but so far there'd been no sign of her.

"Why do you say it like that?" Amy asked absently, staring, narrow eyed, at a strand of trees at the edge of the square.

"Like what?"

"You're avoiding a word and I'm guessing there's a reason."

"Oh. Dawn and her friends don't use the W word. It's unlucky, or it draws demons - I've never really understood, they don't talk about it and Connor doesn't know."

"Would he tell you?"

"Yes. He's surprisingly unsuperstitious, considering who he is."

Amy smiled suddenly. "I'd like to meet him, I think."

"When we get back to Earth, I'll introduce you."

"Guys, the bonding is all very well," Clyde said abruptly, backing into Luke's shoulder, "but I think we should be looking over there."

They followed his gaze to see three vampires saunter in from the ruinward side; one of them casually tossed a body aside as it came, grinning at them through blood-smeared teeth. It snarled something; Clyde was fairly sure that even if he'd spoken the language, he wouldn't have understood, the words were so mangled by fangs and gore. Certainly the remaining guards didn't seem to understand, though they were crouched and ready, stakes gripping tightly.

A flaming arrow sailed overhead, landing just in front of the vampires. They shied away, until one dared to pull it from the ground and wave it like a banner. Luke sensed the guards flinch back and winced.

"Afraid of a little fire, boys?" Amy called suddenly, pushing up to stand beside Luke. "What brave, strong soldiers you are. Not," she added to Clyde, who smiled grimly. "It's all right, boys, I'll go save you."

"Careful," Luke warned her. "They're a lot faster than you think they are."

"I've got it," Amy told him, taking a few steps forward. Her stake was gripped tightly in one hand, held down out of sight by her leg. "Come on, boys," she said to the vampires. "Look at me, all tasty and yummy, right here in front of you. Yum yum yum."

"Amy," Clyde hissed, easing away from Luke so he could see her better.

"It's all fine, boys, nothing's happening. I think I'm confusing them."

"Not used to meals wandering right up to them!"

"Well, all the better for our side."

"How does Rory stick you?" he wondered.

"Like glue." Amy was almost in reach of the flaming arrow. "And infallibly."

Rory's sword shot out of the darkness, taking the lead vampire's head off. He caught the falling arrow without pause, slamming it into the trunk of the second vampire; by the time the third had reacted Amy had planted her stake firmly in its chest.

"Like glue?" he repeated. "That's how you characterise our relationship. Like glue."

"Shut up," she said briskly, pulling him down to kiss him soundly.

When she let him go he coughed once or twice, blinking. "Right. Well." Realising he was still holding his sword, he sheathed it on the second try, turning around. Luke was on one knee, talking earnestly to Sky, who was nodding resignedly. "Sky, come on! We need to get back inside!"

"How's everything in there?" Amy asked.

"Getting on. Everyone's scared, but they're holding it together."

"Well, they've got a good example to follow."

"Yes, Sky's been great," he agreed, keeping such a serious face she wasn't sure whether he was joking or not. "Sky!"

"Go on, Sky," Luke said quietly. "I'm fine, aren't I? Go on inside. Please. It won't take long now."

"How can you tell?" she asked quietly.

"Because the first sun's going to be up in another hour or so. They'll have to run away in another half hour, it'll take them that long to get back. Go on. I promise, I'll come get you as soon as the sun comes up."

She went, reluctantly, with Rory; two of the guards had carried in another who'd been injured in the fighting and Rory hurried her in to help him. Clyde clapped Luke on the shoulder and went to walk the perimeter, checking in with the guards around the edges and passing out fresh stakes where they were needed. Luke stood with Amy and waited for sunrise.

The hardest push came just before the deadline, as if the vampires had suddenly realised what would happen if they didn't get under cover. Their guards fought back grimly; Luke and the others did nothing more dangerous than pass new stakes in as needed. Clyde had quickly lost count of how many they'd killed by the time the last ones disengaged and vanished into the morning mist.

Luke, as he'd promised, went to get Sky and quickly found himself roped in to help. That last push had killed or injured nearly half the fighters – including Asoka, he was sad to see – and he pitched in, helping Rory, Sky and the deputised nurses deal with what they could.

When it was clear Luke wasn't coming back for a while, Clyde and Amy went to check the outer defences. Andrew, bleeding sluggishly from a cut above his ear, walked them through what had happened on the outskirts, where the greatest losses had been and where the defences had held. Dawn was helping to bring in stacks of wood, forming pyres around the village.

"What's going on?" Amy asked when she joined them, rubbing her hands against her trousers to clear some of the muck off.

Dawn glanced over her shoulder at the grimly working men. "My guess? They're going to cremate the dead. Just to be safe."

"Safe?" Clyde repeated.

"They died fighting vampires. No one's going to want to take any chances."

"I'll help," Amy offered. "I'm not doing anything useful right now."

"Thanks," Dawn agreed. "Clyde, take Andrew to see Rory. He won't go for me."

"It's nothing," Andrew protested.

"Then Rory will tell you that and you can come back and help. Go on." Dawn glared until he lifted his hands in surrender, turning to Clyde.

"I'm supposed to go and see Rory," he said.

"Sounds like a plan to me, mate. I'll come back and give you a hand when I can," he added to the girls.

"When you get a chance," Amy agreed, following Dawn to where some of the men, blank faced, were cutting down branches and stripping the leaves.

 

Xander tapped on the attic door, leaning inside. "Safe to come in?"

"Why would you need to worry about that?" the Doctor asked absently.

"I've met Jack."

"Oh. Yes, you're safe."

He glanced around warily anyway; Jack threw him a salute and he grimaced, crossing to the sofa beside Mr Smith. "What's going on? Sarah Jane's wearing a path in the carpet downstairs."

"Rani went to get K9, she should be back soon." Jack stretched, grinning at Xander's glare.

"What do you want K9 for? Mr Smith's helping you, isn't he?"

The Doctor made a face. "K9 likes me better."

Xander glanced at Jack, who shrugged. "Oh. I see."

"No, you don't."

"No, I don't. But never mind me. We all know I'm not going to be the one saving the kids this time."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," he murmured, intent on the machinery he was fiddling with.

Xander frowned, watching him. "What do you know?"

"Almost everything. How are you feeling? You sound less gooey."

"Um. Thanks? I'm feeling better, thank you."

"Good, good. Sarah's a very good nurse."

"Mostly she told me to get some sleep."

"Sometimes that's what you need," Jack offered.

The doorbell went and Xander excused himself to get it, meeting Sarah Jane in the hall. "Sorry. I was talking to the others, but..."

"Easier in small doses," she agreed with a faint smile.

"Kind of like Andrew before I got immunity," he agreed, opening the door. "Um."

"Mrs Langer," Sarah Jane said in surprise.

"It's Carla, Sarah Jane," she said automatically. "Is Clyde here?"

"Clyde," Sarah Jane repeated blankly before smiling suddenly. "He's with Luke. Took Sky for a surprise. Didn't he tell you?"

"No," she said slowly. "He didn't."

"All happened too fast, I suppose. It was a complete spur of the moment thing. I'll get him to call you."

"I've been trying. His phone's not picking up."

"Well, you know what the phone reception is like in Oxford. I wouldn't worry, I'll make sure Luke knows to have him call you. I'm sorry he didn't let you know."

Carla glanced uncertainly at Xander, and Sarah Jane said quickly, "Xander is Dawn's friend, he was in the area and dropped in."

"Dawn's Luke's girl, right?" She shook Xander's hand. "Clyde likes her. Don't think he's mentioned you, but it's nice to meet you."

"I like Clyde, too. Good taste in friends."

She smiled. "He has, hasn't he? Luke and Rani. I was glad when they palled up."

"Do you want to come in?" Sarah Jane asked. "I can try Luke for you."

"No, no. Just make sure and have him call me. He won't know up from down when I'm finished with him."

She smiled, waving at Xander and heading off just as Rani pulled up. The girl waved, waiting until Carla was gone before opening the door and ushering K9 out.

"Greetings, Mistress," he called cheerfully, coming up the drive.

"Hello, K9." She dropped to a crouch to rub his head. "How's Oxford?"

"I am enjoying it very much, Mistress. How may I be of service?"

"The Doctor's up in the attic, he'll tell you what he wants. Do you know what's happened?"

"Master Luke, Master Clyde, Mistress Sky, Mistress Dawn and Master Andrew have been taken in the TARDIS."

"Don't let Andrew hear you call him that, he'll have a coronary on the spot," Xander muttered.

"That's about it," Sarah Jane agreed. "Go on up now, please."

"Affirmative. Pardon me," he added to Xander, who was still standing in the doorway. Xander stepped aside, watching the little dog trundle in.

"So that's K9," he murmured.

"You hadn't met?" Rani asked, locking the car and coming up to the house.

"Dawn doesn't like it when we go near Oxford, unless it's absolutely necessary. And she really doesn't like it when we go to Luke's dorm. I think she thinks we're threatening him in case he breaks up with her or something."

"And are you?"

"Nah, we did all that while the Smiths were staying with us after the fire. Is it safe to leave Jack and the Doctor alone with two super computers and whatever alien stuff you have lying around?"

Sarah Jane and Rani exchanged looks. "I'll go up," Rani said with a sigh. "Someone come take over when it's dinner time."

 

 

They watched the pyres in silence, staying well back from the ring of villagers. Amy stood in Rory's arms, eyes locked on the flames; Luke and Sky sat some distance away, talking quietly. Knowing Luke he was probably explaining the historical reasons for pyres, Clyde thought fondly.

Asoka came towards them as the pyres burnt down, face drawn. Andrew stepped hastily forward to translate for him; Dawn called Luke, who came to join them with Sky behind him.

"Thank you for your help. We are very grateful."

"I'm sorry we couldn't protect all of your people," Luke said quietly.

"We would have lost many more without your aid. We will not forget it."

"We have to go back to our ship, or the air here may make us sick. We can come back tonight to help again."

"Luke, is that wise?" Rory asked quickly.

"They need help, Mr Williams. We know how to provide that help."

"Andrew's already been hurt. Do you want to risk any more of us being injured?"

"Luke, he's right," Clyde added, and tried to ignore the hurt look his friend gave him. "This isn't our fight. We've shown them how to fight back. It's enough."

"We woke them up."

"Not on purpose. Sometimes you have to just step away."

"No. Dawn..."

Dawn grimaced. "I don't like leaving them here. But we don't have any obligation, Luke; we've shown them what to do. They know how to fight back now."

Andrew had been murmuring a running translation for Asoka, who stepped forward. "You have no need to come back to fight again. We have your lessons. They will not find us easy to defeat."

"There, see?" Clyde said quickly. "We're off the hook. Let's just go, mate."

"Clyde?" Sky said softly.

"What, Sparky?"

"Luke's the only one who knows how to fly the TARDIS."

"Oh, not true!" Amy said proudly. "I can do the emergency program, that'll get us back to Earth. Probably at the right linear time, too. Mind you, it's set for Leadworth."

"There's nothing wrong with Leadworth," Rory said automatically.

"Luke." Clyde touched his shoulder, heartened when Luke didn't shrug him off. "We've done our best. There's only so much we can do. This isn't our job."

"Maybe," Luke muttered before nodding. "Let's go back to the TARDIS, anyway."

Andrew translated the round of goodbyes and they headed away from the village, back towards the TARDIS. Clyde kept Sky with him and let Dawn stay with Luke, doing her best to cheer him up; she had him smiling at least by the time they got back.

Clyde glanced at his hand as they approached the TARDIS. Artron energy conspicuously failed to spark there, and he met Luke's look, shaking his head. As soon as they got in Luke went for the console phone, but he hung it up after a second.

"It won't connect," he announced. Rory tried his and Amy tried hers; neither connected. Without much hope, Luke attempted to power the engines up, but nothing happened.

"Guess we're not finished yet," Clyde murmured.

With nothing else to do they scattered; Rory took Andrew to the medbay before sending him to his room to rest. The others vanished in the TARDIS's interior, to eat or rest or whatever they wanted to do.

Amy found Rory in the control room, swinging idly in the Doctor's repair sling. "You ok?" she asked, perching on the stairs to watch him.

"Yeah, course."

"Liar," she said affectionately. "You're on Luke's side, aren't you?"

"He takes too much on, but he has a point. We did wake them up, even if it was an accident, and they're going to keep attacking and killing."

"We taught them how to fight back," Amy protested. "That's got to be worth something."

"It is," he agreed. "I just don't know if it's worth enough."

 

 

"Right. Everyone ready?" the Doctor asked, checking the connections one last time.

"Ready, waiting, and dying of tension," Xander muttered from the couch. Jack grinned at him, carefully holding the antenna exactly where the Doctor had told him to.

"Tension's brilliant. Never underestimate tension. Give a bad guy enough tension, he'll spill his whole plan just to break the silence."

"I'll keep that in mind," Xander promised. "Can we please get on it?"

"We're waiting."

"For what?"

"For – it's very complicated. Spacy wacey."

"I'm very smart," Xander said, and there was an edge in his voice.

"We need to bounce the signal off very particular planets in a very particular sequence," Jack said, taking pity on him. "We need the planets to be in the right places in their orbits. That's what we're waiting for."

"That's not that complicated. Besides, didn't you just phone them earlier?"

"I've been out of the TARDIS for a long time now. It makes some of the functions twitchy. Besides, reliably phoning through time is very tricky. Believe it or not, this is easier."

"I have a hard time believing that," he said honestly. "How many of Sarah Jane's bits and bobs did you cannibalise for this?"

"Most of them," the Doctor said without embarrassment. "I'll take her to get replacements once this is over."

"Is it going to be over?"

The Doctor looked up, studying him for a long moment. Xander fought the urge to look away; scary as the Doctor was in general, he was absolutely terrifying when he was focused on you. "Do you trust Luke?"

"Sorry?"

"Luke. Nice kid. Dating your friend. Bright boy, bit slow on the social side."

"Look who's talking!" Jack hooted.

"Yes, but I have responses other than 'sleep with it'." The Doctor didn't look away from Xander, who was starting to squirm. "Luke. Do you trust him?"

"Yes."

"With anything?"

"With everything."

The Doctor nodded once, turning back to his work. "Then it's going to be over."

K9 whirred to life suddenly, raising his head very carefully to avoid disturbing the wires. "Ready, Master."

"Good. Do it."

 

 

On the TARDIS, the phone started ringing in a strange pattern, on on off, off on off, on on on. Amy picked it up and rattled the connection, but it kept going anyway.

Rory was counting under his breath. "...working," he muttered. "Amy, can you find Luke?"

"Why?"

He gestured to the phone. "Morse code. They want him. Please?"

"I will." Clyde was in the doorway at the top of the stairs; he vanished back into the corridors.

"Why can't they just call?" Amy asked. Rory, still counting, waved her to silence and she subsided with a huff.

Luke appeared after a minute, the others trailing behind him, and came down to the console. Tilting his head to one side, he listened for a moment before frowning. "That's not good."

"What's not?" Clyde asked, and Luke waved him to silence, fishing K9's whistle out of his shirt.

"Sucks being the sidekick, doesn't it?" Amy said sympathetically to Clyde, who grunted agreement.

"This is going to be loud," Luke said apologetically. Sky clapped her hands over her ears and Luke began blowing into the whistle.

"How is the Doctor even hearing that?" Amy asked. "The phone's not working on this side."

"Magic," Clyde suggested, straight faced. Sky elbowed him, scowling, and he grinned at her, clapping his own hands over hers.

Rory, listening intently to Luke, winced. "Oooh."

"What's wrong?" Clyde asked immediately.

"I'm not actually sure, he's going really really fast, but it sounds like...no, that can't be right. I'm just losing track."

Luke lowered the whistle, listening. A moment later the beeps started up again, much faster paced this time; Luke was answering before they'd even finished.

Rory lifted his hands helplessly when they looked at him. "Way too fast for me, and I can't track too different ones at once. Sorry, guys, we have to wait for him to finish."

"What time is it outside?" Andrew said randomly, wandering over to the door to check. "We should be going back soon."

"No one's going back," Luke said absently, listening closely to the beeps. Wincing, he started whistling furiously; whatever answer he got he didn't like it much. Rory watched carefully as he braced himself before whistling a short response and turning away.

"They had to bounce it off some planets and the alignment's failed," he said to Clyde's look. "It'll be a while now before they can get back to us."

"What were you arguing about?" Clyde asked.

"What?" Luke's gaze was focused on the wall of the TARDIS; Clyde waved a hand in front of his eyes, forcing his attention back.

"What were you arguing about?"

Luke considered him for a minute before looking past him. "Sky, can you go..."

"No," she interrupted him.

"Sky."

"I'm here too. I'm not going to hide away while you talk about whatever. I want to know what's happening."

"Don't look at me," Dawn said when Luke glared at her. "She's your sister."

"She's been spending too much time with you," Luke muttered. "Anyway, she's part of it. Sort of. Dawn, I'm supposed to ask you about the Rite of Grimslar."

Dawn frowned, thinking quickly. "Grimslar."

"Who's Grimslar?" Rory prompted, watching her struggle.

"Thirteenth – or fourteenth, I always get them confused – century warlock. He was...oooh! Yes! Who came up with that, Luke? Whoever it is, they get a big kiss!"

Luke snapped his mouth shut and Amy chuckled. "Maybe tell her that later, then. What's Grimslar, Dawn?"

"He banished demons. That was his speciality. His superpower. And I know the rite."

"You could use it here? On the vampires?"

"Yes. Except, no. Two problems, and the first is I'm not strong enough for that, Luke."

"Sky is." He glanced up at Sky, standing uncertainly by the door. "She can channel all the power of the TARDIS, if she tries. She'll get you the power you need."

"What?" Sky shook her head. "No."

"Yes." He bounded up the stairs, catching her hand and drawing her down to join them. "You can. Look." He pressed her hand lightly to the console; when she drew it back, energy connected her to it, dancing across her skin.

"No." She drew her hand away sharply. "It's not electricity, it's not right. I can't do it."

"It's artron energy," Clyde reminded him. "Luke, it'll kill her."

"No." He shook his head, rubbing briefly at his nose. "It'll work, because you'll buffer it. That's what'll make it work. You're channelling artron right now, it can't hurt you."

"You think that'll work?"

"The Doctor does. It's his plan."

Clyde looked to Rory, who shrugged. "The Doctor's plans usually work," he said uncertainly.

"Think about some of the Doctor's plans," Amy urged him.

"Rather not, thanks."

She grinned at him, turning to Dawn. "You said two problems?"

"Yes. Number two; for the spell to work I need something belonging to the vampires. Just something belonging to one will do; I can do it from there. But there has to be something. And we staked or beheaded or set on fire every vampire we had."

Luke nodded. "I know. But there's a solution to that too." Looking past her at Andrew, he said quietly, "We know where they nest."

Rory got it before anyone else; dropping Amy's hand, he crossed the room quickly to stand between Luke and Andrew. "Way too far," he said frankly. 

"I know it is. If Connor was here, this would be his mission. But he's not, so it's Andrew's."

"Oh," Andrew said as he realised. "Right."

"Andrew can do the spell," Dawn protested.

"No. It has to be you, Dawn."

"Why? He knows it better than I do!"

"Because it has to be the Key." Luke was eerily calm. "The spell banishes them to another dimension, but it doesn't always work. It didn't for Grimslar and he created it. We need you to overcome that, or else the TARDIS will drain herself dry trying."

"I'll go with you," Clyde offered.

"No," Luke said again. "Amy can go; but you have to be here. Dawn will need to get started on the energy build up early."

"Why only Amy?" Andrew asked in a small voice.

"Because we need Rory. We'll be working with a lot of energy and if it goes wrong..." he wavered for a moment. "I'll go with you too, Andrew, they won't need me here. And we need to go, because the suns are going down."

"I hate this plan," Clyde told him.

"I kind of hate it too. But it's the Doctor's plan."

"You didn't have to pass it on!"

"No," Luke agreed softly. "I didn't have to pass it on."

Turning on his heel, he headed for the door. Sky started to chase him; Clyde caught her arm, hauling her back. "Don't," he told her. Glancing up to catch Andrew's eyes, he said softly, "You don't have to."

"Luke doesn't know anything about vampires," he muttered. "Not really. No, I'll go. Besides, we don't have to get too close."

"We don't?" Amy said in surprise.

Andrew smiled shakily. "Aciio something belonging to the vampire."

"And that'll work?"

"It'll work. Who's got stakes?"

Dawn dug several out of a pocket, piled them into his arms and pushed past to the door. "Give us three minutes," she told them, closing the door in Amy's face.

Clyde whistled, long and low. "Dramatic," he observed to Rory. "Is it always like this?"

"You're talking to a two thousand year old Roman ex-plastic man," Rory pointed out. "Hang around with the Doctor, your definition of things like 'normal' and 'abnormal' and 'weird' and 'unusual' tend to get messed up."

"That's true, I suppose," Clyde agreed. "I spent long enough with Sarah Jane, I guess it's rubbed off."

Outside, Dawn stood for a minute, watching Luke pretend not to notice her. He wasn't much good at it, sneaking glances at her over his shoulder; she grinned, sauntering towards him.

"It's a good plan," she told him.

"It could go wrong in any of about sixty ways, and if it goes wrong it'll go really wrong." She slid her hand into his and he looked back at her. "What if Sky and Clyde can't handle it, what if everything gets sucked in and banished, what if Andrew or Amy gets eaten by vampires..."

"What if those two suns suddenly realise it shouldn't be possible to have a planet and it gets ripped apart, what if Godzilla attacks, what if this is actually a nightmare brought on by space pollen – don't make that face, it's a thing, ask Rory. Luke, it's a good plan. I know the spell, and you're right, the Key will make it easier. Sky's pretty powerful, and Clyde'll do anything he has to to help her, you know that. I know we make fun of Andrew, but he's actually very skilled; he held his own against Turok Hahn and even Slayers have trouble with those. He and Xander could take down pretty much any human, we just don't tell them that. Don't want it to go to their heads. And I pity the vampire that attacks Amy; she'd batter it to death."

He laughed, turning to bury his face in her neck. "I love you," he murmured, and then tensed against her.

Dawn grinned, running a hand gently through his hair. "That's a different freak out. We'll worry about it later, all right? Go on, now." She pushed lightly, brushing a kiss against his cheek as he withdrew.

The door cracked open and Andrew called through, "Is it safe?"

"Depends on your definition!" Dawn called back, grinning. "Yes, come on." She touched Luke's cheek as he turned away, catching his eyes. "Later," she promised. "We'll talk about it later. So no getting killed, all right?"

"Promise," he agreed, a little humour seeping back in. "Let's go," he added, taking a step back from her and turning to Andrew and Amy. "Are you coming, Amy?"

"It's about the only help I can be, apparently. Doctor didn't figure us into the plan?"

"He didn't figure anyone; I decided who'd do what. If you're coming, Andrew's in charge; he's the expert in this."

Andrew grinned. "Am I?"

"Aren't you?"

"Yes," Dawn said on his behalf. "Now hurry up, and mind the swamp."

They headed off, Andrew still beaming, Luke glancing back every few steps and Amy glancing from one to the other. Dawn stayed where she was until they vanished behind some trees, and after that until Rory cleared his throat behind her.

"Sorry," he offered. "We need to know what to do."

"Yes," she agreed without moving.

"You should have reciprocated."

"Should I? When he's sending us to what might be our deaths?"

"He's not sending us anywhere," Rory pointed out. She turned her head to glare at him and he winced. "Right, not the time for jokes; sorry. You think it'd make it harder?"

"I'm fairly sure," she agreed. "It doesn't matter; he'll get us home. We can talk about it then."

"You trust him a lot," Rory noted.

"You trust your Doctor, and he isn't even here. Is he a good man, Rory?"

"Man, maybe not, but good – yes. Or, he tries, at least."

"Is he nice?"

Rory winced at that. "Not always."

"Luke was built to kill and destroy. He always knows it. He fights it so hard. He wants to be good and nice and he doesn't know they're often opposites."

"You're very young to be so pessimistic," Rory said gently.

"Experience." She smiled, turning back towards the TARDIS. "It doesn't matter. We can deal with it later. Come on; this is going to take time to set up, and it has to be right. We only have one chance."


	6. Chapter 6

"He didn't like that," Jack noted.

"Would you?" the Doctor said absently.

"Well, no. I suppose not. He has a lot of faith in you, Doc."

"He inherited that," he said, fiddling with another connection. "K9, when will we be able to make contact again?"

"Calculating," K9 said. 

"How dangerous is this, exactly?" Rani asked.

"Depends on your definition of dangerous," Jack told her.

"My definition is, you know, dangerous."

"The spell can fail," Xander said. "The warlock who invented it had about a sixty per cent success rate. Dawn's the Key and that will help a lot, but no spell is perfect all the time."

"How much will it help?"

"I'm betting on them."

"I'd put my money on it," Jack agreed.

"What do you spend money on, anyway? You live on base and apparently all your clothes come from surplus stores."

"Don't hate on the coat," Jack warned him. "I do have a boyfriend, you know. We like to go places. Buy things."

"Ianto? The guy lives in suits."

"Yes, he does look like that," Jack agreed, deliberately vague. 

"Doctor?" Sarah Jane said abruptly.

"Yes, Sarah."

"Is it going to work?"

He met her eyes, nodding. "It's going to work."

"Thank you."

"We can contact them in seventeen point seven six three hours, Master," K9 said. 

"Good to know; thank you. Mr Smith, please start a silent countdown and warn us at five minutes increments, beginning one hour before contact."

"Countdown begun," Mr Smith agreed.

The Doctor crossed the attic, taking Sarah Jane's hands. "There is literally nothing else we can do until then," he told her. "Show me your house; I've never been further than the attic."

"I wonder why," Jack said, not quite under his breath.

"Manners, Jack, impugning the honour of your host. Come on, Sarah."

"You really hate the slow path, don't you?" she asked, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

"It's so dull. How do people do this all the time? It's completely infuriating. When I get the TARDIS back, I'm going to come back and pick myself up and skip over this bit."

They all hesitated for a moment; nothing happened, and eventually Rani rolled her eyes and got to her feet. "Time for another round of tea, I think. Xander, you need another dose?"

"No, thanks, it's not time yet. Want help?"

"Something you get good at very quickly on this team; making tea for large groups. I'll be back soon." She waved Sarah Jane and the Doctor out in front of her, leaving the door open just a little.

"How dangerous is it really?" Jack asked, once the sound of feet on stairs had died away.

Xander grimaced. "Dawn's not a witch; she knows some magic, but not the heavy stuff. That'll make it harder. Andrew would actually be better in some ways, but the Key residue will compensate for that. The energy is going to be the big problem."

"They'll figure a way around that. Clyde's resourceful. And Dawn knows the spell, knows what's expected?"

"Yeah."

"Then they'll work it out. If that's the only barrier they could be home any time."

"The Doctor only told them what to do because he knew what they'd done, right?"

Jack laughed. "Something like that. You've dealt with time travel?"

"Only in the movies, and what Luke's told me about his mom."

"You're handling it pretty well."

"Different definition of crazy, I guess. Buff attracts it, and after a while we do too. I've dated more demons than regular people."

"Well, what's regular anyway? That's just a label people use. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Says the omnisexual immortal from the fifty first century."

"We all have our burdens."

"That one must be a crippler." He sighed, looking at Mr Smith. "How long to go, Mr Smith?"

"Seventeen point six eight four hours until contact."

He nodded. "I'm going to go get some rest, Jack. You'll call me?"

"Anything happens. You need a hand? You're very pale."

"It's the stupid cold. I'm fine. I'll see you later." He shuffled out of the room, leaving Jack to watch the slow countdown.

 

The energy transfer was slow to start with, building up as Clyde and Sky gained confidence. Rory had suggested trying to use the artron energy as it was, but they tried that and it blew the circle Dawn had drawn; they'd had to scramble to get a new one drawn in time. Clyde guessed it was because the human body wasn't really meant to handle artron energy, he was only able to because the Doctor had changed him slightly.

Rory paced, useless and helpless, having to pull up a couple of times to keep from crossing the energy lines. No one was talking; Dawn was murmuring words under her breath, sometimes in Latin and sometimes in other languages. Without the Doctor Rory couldn't understand her, but just the sound of the words made him itch. Her eyes were closed as she worked, gathering the energies and getting ready.

The others were almost too late back; Andrew appeared first, hairing over the edge of the hill with some cloth clutched in his hand. "I tried to teleport, it doesn't work here, I can't breathe..." He stumbled to a halt just before breaking the circle, dropping to his knees and leaning forward. "Dawn!"

She reached back without looking, still murmuring; Andrew held his hand flat, the cloth balancing on the flat of his palm. The air above the line rippled when her hand passed above it; she snagged the cloth and pulled back into the circle. Andrew flopped over backwards, curling around his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Rory asked urgently, trying to get him to uncurl. Andrew waved him off, breathing heavily.

"Stitch," he said when he could. "It's nothing. No worries."

"Where are the others?"

"Coming. Amy – Luke had to help her. They're behind me."

"What about her? What about Amy?" He caught Andrew's arm, tugging him upright.

"Nothing! She got a cut, it's nothing, it just slowed her down and we had to get the cloth back. It's nothing."

"What kind of cut?"

Andrew glanced up uncomfortably. "Sun's going down."

"I know it is, where's my WIFE?"

"They're coming! They're not that far behind me. I didn't leave them until I had to."

Rory let him go, crossing to the edge of the hill and peering over it. Halfway down, Luke was all but supporting Amy, who was hobbling along.

Luke glanced up, saw him and waved him away from the edge. Rory glared, holding his position defiantly. The pair made it slowly up the hill and Rory ducked under Amy's other arm. "What happened?" he demanded.

"Dunno, got me in the leg." Amy gritted her teeth as he eased her down outside the TARDIS. "Ow, ow ow."

"Sorry," Rory said absently. "Of all the days to wear trousers, Amy. I have to rip them."

"Yeah."

Luke reappeared with a first aid kit; when Rory took it from him he turned to watch Clyde and Sky. "How is it going?"

"Everyone seems happy," Rory told him. "Amy, hold still." He snipped the trousers away quickly and inspected the cut with a frown; when he looked up Andrew was crouching by them holding a disinfectant soaked cloth. "Thanks."

"Field medicine," he said with a shrug. "I'm the star pupil."

"Can you tell how the spell's going?" Luke asked restlessly.

"As well as we thought it would. It won't take long."

"It better not. The second sun will be down soon."

Rory glanced up at it briefly before turning his attention back to Amy's leg. "This is going to hurt," he warned her.

"Ah bloody hell! Ow. Bit more warning next time, Rory, huh?"

"Sorry." He handed the cloth back to Andrew, shaking his head at the bandages. "It needs stitching."

"It's just a cut!" Amy protested.

"It's your hamstring. You're going to be stuck in one place for a while, love. Thanks, Andrew."

Luke was staring at the sky; Rory glanced up between stitches. "How long to suns set, Luke?"

"Twenty minutes, maybe. And we're a lot closer to the ruins than the village is, and they're very angry with us now."

"Right. Soon as I'm done with Amy, Andrew, give me a hand to get her inside, yeah?"

"Rory!" Amy protested.

"You can't put your weight on that," he said firmly. "No, Amy. As your doc – as your medical practitioner, I forbid it. You can wait inside and get it fired up when we're done."

Amy pouted, grimacing as he tied the thread off. "Yes, Nurse Williams."

He kissed her quickly, grinning when she laughed. "Trust me?"

"Always."

"Good. Andrew, can I get – thanks. Missed your calling, you know."

"Nah." He smiled, packing the kit away again. "I'm pretty clear about my calling, thank you."

Something soundless, formless, shapeless burst from Dawn, expanding out around her. It passed through everyone in the clearing, spreading out in all directions. Andrew caught Luke's arm as he made to go to her, shaking his head quickly. "Wait, Luke, that's not..."

Something in the direction of the ruins howled, shrieking despair and defiance into the darkening sky. Sky was shaking, still channelling energy in Dawn as quickly as she could. Clyde was still standing firm.

More somethings started to howl, the noise rising to a crescendo before cutting itself off. Dawn fell over backwards, staring blankly upwards as the stream of energy faltered and stopped.

Rory left Amy inside, glaring to make her stay, and went to check on Clyde and Sky, both of whom were tired but seemed all right. Luke was sitting with Dawn, leaning over to talk quietly with her; Rory clomped his feet extra loudly as he approached them.

"Hi, don't mind me, just checking on the practically comatose girl." He picked up her wrist, smiling at her as he started to count.

"I'm not practically comatose. I feel all right. Tired, but that's all."

"That about matches the others. How many fingers?"

"Two. I definitely don't have a concussion."

"Who's the nurse around here? Follow my finger?"

Once she'd done all his tests he nodded, standing up. "Looks good. Don't stay on the ground too long, it's cold out here."

"Moving?" Dawn looked utterly disgusted at the thought.

"Well, get your big strong boyfriend to help you."

"He'd have trouble lifting me on his best day."

"Hey," Luke protested.

"You're the brains, not the brawn, love." 

Rory smiled faintly. "Luke, we're bringing Sky in."

"Go on," Dawn told him. "I'll wait for Andrew to get back."

"Sure?"

"Yeah. Go be with your sister." He nodded, turning away, and she called "Hey. Did we do it?"

"Andrew'll have to talk to Asoka in the morning, but yeah. I think we did it."

"Go us," she said with a grin, letting her head flop backwards again.

 

A night's rest restored everyone who'd been part of the spell, and the healing instruments in the infirmary helped Amy's leg, though they couldn't heal it all the way. "Some things just have to heal," Rory said placidly when she grumbled.

Luke and Sky went with Andrew to see Asoka late that morning. He confirmed that no one had been attacked the previous night and that a group of his warriors had found the ruins empty and completely deserted.

Andrew talked to him for a while longer before joining the others to head back to the TARDIS. He was quiet as they walked, answering Sky's questions but taking no active part in the conversation.

When they came into view of the TARDIS Luke sent Sky on ahead and turned to face him. "What's wrong?"

"I can't go." Andrew blinked in surprise at his own answer.

"Can't go where?"

"Home. Back to Earth."

"Why not? We're done here."

"No." Andrew shook his head. "Asoka says there are other enclaves of vampires all over this world. Other communities are being attacked, all the time."

"You can't stop them all by yourself."

"No, but I can teach them how. I taught Asoka and his people."

"So his people can teach the others."

"No," he said again. "Luke..."

"You might never go home again," Luke said quietly. "You know that."

"I know." He turned, studying the TARDIS. "I love being part of the Slayer Army, Luke. It's like nothing I ever – but I can be useful here. I can save lives. I can really make a difference. They like me well enough back there, but not...I'm humoured, not one of them."

"They like you very well. Dawn does, anyway."

"Yeah. Well. I honestly think this is what I'm meant..." Andrew cut himself off, laughing suddenly. "Alien Slayers."

"What?"

"Alien Slayers," he said again. "We thought it was the Torchwood team."

"Yeah. Kennedy and the others. Isn't it?"

"How were they going to get us off planet? Torchwood's grounded. They're all about Earth, not space. They were never going to get us – but this, Luke, this could be it."

"There's no space travel from here."

"Not yet," he agreed. "But the TARDIS came here. Other systems know this planet exists. If the people here know how to fight demons, if they keep that knowledge alive..."

"Alien Slayers," Luke agreed. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "I don't like it, Andrew, but I won't try to argue you out of it."

"Thank you." He looked at the TARDIS again. "Can you tell Xander thanks? And it isn't – it's not about him, or any of the others. This is about me."

"You can't buy redemption, you know. It doesn't work that way, and you don't even need it."

"I know I can't," Andrew agreed, smiling. "But maybe I can buy peace. Or satisfaction, at least."

"Maybe." He gestured towards the TARDIS. "Take your time. We'll be inside."

"I could..."

"Run off without telling anyone? No, you couldn't. I'm not dealing with Dawn if you don't tell her."

"She loves you too, you know." He shrugged apologetically at Luke's look. "I heard. Accidentally. Sorry. But she does."

"Yeah. We'll talk about it, but – yeah. She does. Thanks. Don't be too long."

"Take your time, don't be too long..." Andrew muttered. "Make up your mind, Luke." Luke grinned, heading inside and pulling the door closed behind himself.

"He's coming," he said when Rory glanced past him questioningly. "He just wanted to think about some things. He won't be long. Can I get some help for a minute?"

"Sure. With what?"

Luke gestured to the corridor that led into the TARDIS and Rory followed him. Amy glanced at Sky, who shrugged. "I don't know. They were talking when I left them, but I didn't hear what about."

"I guess we'll find out," Clyde said with a shrug. "Amy, anything we need to do to get ready to go?"

"No, I think it's all right. We just need to power up and go, assuming it'll work."

Clyde glanced at his hand, sparking lightly. "I think it'll work this time. Whenever we get to do it," he added, voice raised slightly.

Dawn slipped out after Luke and Rory; they stopped talking to watch her. "Make a girl feel self conscious," she said lightly.

"Sorry, Dawn." Luke smiled awkwardly. "This isn't anything about you."

"What is it about?"

"It's..." He glanced at Rory, who shrugged helplessly. "I can't tell you yet," he said finally.

"When can you tell me?"

"Pretty soon. It's not really up to me."

"Is it something bad?"

"Dawn," he pleaded. She had a brief mental argument; Luke would tell her if she pushed, she knew, but if he was making this much effort to keep it secret...

"All right," she agreed reluctantly. "I'll go back inside. Make sure and tell me when you can."

"I promise." He kissed her quickly. "And then we'll talk."

She went back, trying her best not to listen as Rory said quietly, "It's this way. Are you sure we –"

The door closed behind her and Clyde glanced up. "Any luck?"

"He won't tell me."

"Really? That's not like Luke."

"I could go ask Rory," Amy offered.

"No. He said it won't be long. Let him have whatever secret he has." Dawn dropped onto the jump seat, staring fixedly at the console.

"It's my secret."

They looked up as Andrew closed the door, face fixed and steady. Luke and Rory came back in through the other door, Luke with something bundled over his arm.

"Andrew," he said in surprise, halting. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's go home." Clyde clapped his hands together sharply.

Andrew shook his head slowly. "I'm not going."

There were arguments, there was yelling, there was pleading and shouting and fighting. Luke stayed out of it, refusing to answer demands from either side. Rory kept himself and Amy out of it, too; they didn't really know Andrew or his background, after all, only what they'd seen in the last few days. Clyde and Sky were pulled in, appealed to alternately by Dawn or Andrew to agree or argue with each other.

Finally Dawn wound down, unable to think of another argument. Andrew had been very calm and steady, countering each of her arguments logically. It was completely unlike the boy she knew. "We don't just tolerate you, you know," she told him.

"You don't. Xander doesn't. But the others do. Why do you think I follow Xander around wherever he goes?"

"The girls like you."

"Yeah," he agreed distantly. "I'm sorry for that. But this world – I knew it as soon as we landed, Dawn. This is my future."

"What about the ammonia?" she asked.

"It's not enough to make me sick. I might get headaches now and then. I checked."

"Luke, you were so worried about it!"

"Headaches are bad," he said placidly. "But Andrew's right. He probably shouldn't take up Olympic sports, and he definitely shouldn't wade into any fog patches, but day to day he'll be all right. He'll adapt."

She snorted, turning back to Andrew. "I'll make the Doctor come back. To check on you."

"Thanks," he said, but the look on his face showed how unsure he was about that.

"If he won't, I'll just rip a hole in the dimensions and come myself," she added lightly.

"You would, wouldn't you?" he said fondly.

"In a heartbeat. Be careful, Andrew."

Luke stepped forward, offering him the bundle. On closer inspection it was clearly a backpack, and Andrew pulled it on and let Dawn fuss with the straps.

"What's in it?" Sky asked, poking at one of the pockets.

"Oh, this and that. Useful things." Rory turned to Andrew. "It's bigger on the inside, like this place, but I don't know how long that'll last once we're gone. You should probably unpack it and store whatever you don't need when you can."

"I will," he agreed. "Asoka's going to give me a home base, and someone to escort me around. I can leave the things with him, he'll make sure they're safe."

"Good." Rory smiled awkwardly. "We will try and get back here. I promise."

"I know you will," he agreed.

Amy rolled her eyes, pulling him into a rough hug. "Be careful," she told him firmly, backing away to let the others in.

Luke held up a small device, slipping it into one of the pockets of the bag. "What's that for?" Andrew asked, twisting to watch.

"It'll find Earth's sun for you. It won't be visible often, only when the orbits are right, but that'll tell you when. Just in case you want to see home."

"Thank you," he murmured, and Luke smiled easily, stepping into a hug.

Goodbyes over with, Andrew turned and headed for the door. Pausing, he looked carefully around the interior before laying his hand against the wall. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "You're beautiful, and fantastic. Thanks for letting me in." The lights pulsed softly; smiling, he let himself out, closing the door firmly.

Luke flicked on the screen and they gathered silently to watch him walk away.

 

"You will be able to communicate with the TARDIS in forty minutes," Mr Smith announced.

"Thank you, Mr Smith."

"I will remind you in five minutes."

"Yes, thank you."

"You set it," Jack reminded him.

"I was anticipating having more to do between now and then."

"Stymied by your own good design."

"If your Doctor had built this it would be exploding all over the place."

Jack shrugged easily. "My Doctor did build this. You're always my Doctor."

"Temporal flux rising," Mr Smith announced suddenly. Jack looked up, surprised, and lunged forward to rescue K9 from the middle of the floor.

The TARDIS faded in, wavered, and vanished again. The Doctor stared at the empty space for a moment before looking down at the mess of wiring and components, crushed in the aborted landing.

"Now things are exploding," Jack told him, glancing across as sparks erupted in front of Mr Smith. "Mr Smith, do you know where they've gone?"

"I am reading the TARDIS in Washington, DC," Mr Smith said smoothly. "Temporal analysis confirms it is in linear time."

"Washington," the Doctor said with a laugh, crossing to yell through the door downstairs. "Sarah! Do you have Maria's number?"

"Why?" Sarah Jane asked, coming back upstairs.

"Because she's about to have some visitors."

"The TARDIS is in Washington," Mr Smith said again.

Sarah Jane stared at him for a moment before digging her phone out of her pocket. "Alan? It's Sarah Jane Smith. Sorry to disturb you. Do you know where Maria is?"

 

 

"That was a landing," Amy said suspiciously.

"Yes," Luke agreed.

"We landed and then we took off again."

"Yes."

"Why?"

He grinned at her, eyes bright. "I'm looking."

"This is not Bannerman Road," Dawn said from the door.

"Oi!" Rory went after her. "What is it with you and randomly opening doors?"

"I'm a very curious person."

"In all possible senses of the word," Clyde agreed. "Luke, are we in Washington?"

"We are," he agreed, still grinning.

"Are we anywhere near Maria's house?"

"Unless she's moved, I'm pretty sure we're in her guest room."

Someone yelled from outside and Rory jerked Dawn away from the door, closing it firmly and glaring at her when she tried to get back. "No," he said firmly. "Luke, there's a guy out there with a phone in his hand."

Clyde stepped around Luke, flicking on the screen. "It's Mr Jackson," he said, laughing. "Luke, you couldn't have warned him?"

"You know him?" Rory asked. "Only he's knocking on the door."

"Does he know what the TARDIS is?" Amy asked, bouncing down to join Rory.

"In theory. He's never seen it, unless the Doctor's had some adventures over here he hasn't told us about." Clyde turned the screen off again, dragging Luke down the ramp and collecting Sky on the way. "One of us should probably go out first, he knows us."

"He doesn't know me," Sky pointed out.

"He knows about you," Luke told her. "At least, Maria does. Everything I know about you, so does she."

"Oh." Sky grinned, clearly pleased with that idea.

"Little bit creepy," Amy murmured, softly enough that only Rory could hear her. He grimaced at her, opening the door and stepping to one side.

Clyde sauntered out, waving. "Hey, Mr Jackson. Maria around?"

"Clyde's here," he told his phone. Clyde blinked, stepping to one side, and he continued, "And so's Luke, Sky, girl I don't know, man and woman. What? No, only one man."

"Andrew's not with us," Clyde told him. "Is that Sarah Jane?"

He nodded, wincing at whatever he was listening to. "The Doctor wants his TARDIS back, apparently."

"He can have it," Luke said. "When we're done. Is Maria here, Mr Jackson?"

"She's on her way back, she wasn't home. Please, make yourselves at home in my house. In Washington. Sarah Jane, they're fine. Do you want to talk to them?"

He listened for a moment before hanging up. "She says you're grounded when you get back," he informed the room at large.

"I don't think she can ground us," Rory protested.

"I wouldn't underestimate Sarah Jane," Clyde said airily.

"Mr Jackson, I'm Dawn," Dawn said, giving up on Luke ever introducing them.

"Dawn," he repeated. "Oh yes! You're Luke's – friend," he edited himself awkwardly.

"Dawn's my girlfriend, Mr Jackson," Luke said politely. "And that's Rory Williams and Amy Pond, they're the Doctor's Companions."

"Amy Williams," Rory muttered.

"Rory Pond," she countered.

"Don't ask," Clyde said to Mr Jackson's look. "Just try and ignore them."

"I'm tempted to ignore this whole thing," he said. "Except you two," he added to Dawn and Sky. "Call me Alan."

"Oh yeah, the girls get all the love," Clyde moaned. "Come on, then, let's see the famous Washington house."

"Is it famous?" Alan murmured, stepping to one side so they could head downstairs.

Clyde and Sky wandered to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with coffee for everyone – "It's really hard to get good tea over here," Mr Jackson explained – and they settled in, more or less. "Maria won't be long," he said when he caught Luke watching the window. "She was just out with Connor."

Dawn sputtered, coughing her drink all over the table. "Sorry," she said awkwardly, waving away Rory's concern. "You said she was out with...?"

"Connor. She met him a couple of days ago, they've been hanging out together."

"Can't be," Clyde said. "What would he even be doing in Washington?"

"Stranger things have happened," Dawn murmured. "To us, even."

"Connor Reilly?" Luke said carefully.

"I – actually, I don't know his surname. They haven't been friends for long. I can call her."

"No, it's fine."

"Who's Connor Reilly?" Alan asked.

"He's a friend of ours, but last we knew he was in Stanford. He's on a year off but he had to go back, something about his paperwork."

"Studying what?"

"He hasn't chosen his major yet."

"Poly Sci," Dawn said over Luke.

"Really?" Clyde said in surprise. "I thought he was going to do something arty."

"Yeah, he thinks he's destined to be a lawyer. But he's minoring in art history. He's going to decorate his office with his own work."

"Really?" Luke said, baffled.

She shrugged. "This week, he is. Ask me again next week."

"Poly Sci doesn't actually have anything to do with being a lawyer," Rory pointed out.

"It can have," Dawn protested.

"Plus being the son of the guy who owns the biggest law firm in LA probably helps," Clyde agreed.

Mr Jackson looked over them at Rory and Amy. "I shouldn't worry about being completely lost, right?"

"I wouldn't," Amy agreed. "It just wastes a lot of time and energy."

"Mr Jackson, what's it like living in America?" Sky asked earnestly.

He laughed. "Well, it's different than England, definitely."

"Luke says Maria's still helping aliens."

"Sometimes, yeah. We don't see as many here, and we have to be careful because we don't have Sarah Jane or Mr Smith to help out, but yeah. Sometimes we help them out."

The front door opened and Luke rose to his feet, glancing nervously towards Clyde. "Maria?" Alan called without moving.

"Yeah, it's me, Dad!"

"Got a surprise for you in here!"

"Ok, just a second!" She spoke softly to someone else before pushing the door open, still talking over her shoulder. "Ok, what is...oh my god!"

Luke bounded across the room to yank her into a hug, aware of Connor appearing in the doorway and relaxing after a quick look around. Maria laughed breathlessly, returning the hug and squealing when Clyde added himself in.

"Luke! Clyde, what's – what's going on, what are you doing here?" She pushed gently at Luke's shoulders until he loosened his grip, though he didn't let go of her. "Is something wrong?" she added quickly, looking from Luke to Clyde and back.

"No. Not wrong." Luke grinned at her. "It's so good to see you, Maria."

"It's great to see you. I don't believe this."

Alan cleared his throat and Luke looked back guiltily, letting her go and darting back to Dawn's side. "Maria, this is Dawn, my fr – my girlfriend, and Sky, I told you all about her, and that's Amy and Rory, they're the Doctor's Companions."

"Oh, is the Doctor here?"

"No," Clyde told her. "The TARDIS kidnapped us. It's up in your spare room."

Maria stared at him for a moment. "This seems like a long story. Oh, um, Connor, this is everyone, everyone, Connor."

"We've met," Connor said blandly. "Dawn, what's this about kidnapping? When did this happen?"

"Tuesday. What day is it now?"

"You've met?" Maria repeated.

"Connor's father and Dawn's sister used to date," Clyde told her. "She and Luke and Connor all bonded fighting off Slitheen and Miss Myers and Sluks a few months ago."

"I told you about it," Luke added.

Mari's eyes widened and she rounded on Connor. "You're Connor?"

"Hello." He waved vaguely.

"You're Connor!"

"Still me."

"Why didn't you tell me you were Connor?"

"Pretty sure I did when I introduced myself. I think I said 'Hi, I'm Connor.' Why didn't you tell me you were Maria?"

"How many other Marias with English accents do you know?" Clyde asked interestedly.

Rory leaned over to Alan, who was watching in fascination. "Do you know what any of those things they mentioned are?"

"I know about Slitheen. And Miss Myers, I'm pretty sure that's the woman who made Sky. The other one, though, I've never heard of that."

"They're kind of like jellyfish," Sky offered. "Interdimensional jellyfish who get inside you and dehydrate you until you die. Dawn got one, so they got her drunk until she threw it up."

"This is what we sound like to other people, isn't it?" Rory asked Amy.

"What, just because you're a two thousand year old Roman who used to be plastic and I imagined the universe into existence?" She grinned, patting his cheek. "I wouldn't worry about it, love."

"Yeah, anyone who hears you will just think you're crazy," Clyde agreed. "And we didn't just _get Dawn drunk_ , Sparky, it was a very complex plan involving dehydrating the Sluk by pouring ethanol down her throat."

"And getting her drunk," Rory said.

"Nurses. No fun. And no, she just got hungover. No actual drunkenness."

"Not our most fun plan ever," Dawn agreed.

"What happened to the Sluk?" Amy asked.

"Connor stabbed it through the head with – possibly a scalpel. Something sharp, anyway."

"Euch. Pay attention to your own conversation, kid," Amy advised him.

"So what are you doing here?" Maria asked, argument with Connor apparently over.

"Just stopping by on our way back to Bannerman Road," Clyde told her.

"I still don't know why you're in the TARDIS in the first place," she protested. "Sky, you tell me."

"Oh. Um – do you believe in vampires?"


	7. Chapter 7

"You can contact the TARDIS in five minutes."

"Thank you, Mr Smith!"

"You could just tell him to stop counting," Xander pointed out.

"Yes, but then how would I know how long it will be until I can contact the TARDIS?"

"By asking? Anyway, it's in Washington, this countdown doesn't apply anymore. You can just phone them."

The Doctor turned to stare at him. "Are you always so relentlessly logical?"

"Someone has to be."

"You can contact the TARDIS in four minutes," Mr Smith offered. "Temporal flux escalating. Temporal flux escalating. TARDIS materialising."

"What?" The Doctor spun on the spot, staring at the space where the TARDIS usually landed.

"TARDIS has materialised."

"No it hasn't!"

"Mr Smith, _where_ has the TARDIS materialised?" Jack asked, pushing to his feet.

"The TARDIS has materialised in the back garden. You can contact the TARDIS in three minutes."

"Back garden," the Doctor repeated, dashing out the door. Jack and Xander exchanged looks; Jack gestured him to go ahead.

Sarah Jane and Rani had made it there first and Sky, Luke and Clyde were all being violently hugged and berated at the same time. The Doctor carefully stepped around them to join Amy and Rory, blinking at Connor.

"I'm sure Andrew was less filled with murderous rage when you left," he said idly. "Also, didn't he look different?"

"Connor," Rory corrected him. "And I don't think he has rage."

"Oh. Well, I suppose that would –"

Amy slapped him.

"Ow," he continued thoughtfully. "That hurt."

"Good," Amy said. "You bloody idiot."

"I'm sorry?"

"You sent us off to that planet! We nearly got eaten by vampires!"

"I'm almost certain you didn't," he said warily. "Rory?"

"We almost got eaten by vampires," he agreed.

"Drained by vampires," Connor told him.

"We almost got drained by vampires," Rory said obediently.

"Did you send us there on purpose?" Amy demanded, hands on hips.

"If you'll recall, I tried to get you out of the TARDIS."

"You didn't try very hard!"

"Well, I couldn't tell you why, could I?"

"Why not?"

He glanced over at Sarah Jane and her kids, all of whom were watching them. "Because you couldn't know," he said, directly to Luke. "What was coming. What you were facing. It had to be done honestly, by all of you."

"It must be pretty awful in your head," Rani murmured.

"Since no one's mentioning the elephant in the room, I will. Where's Andrew?" Xander asked.

"He stayed behind," Dawn told him.

"Stayed behind where?"

"On that planet. Seven million years in the past and twelve million light years from here."

"You left him behind?"

"He wanted to stay," Luke said over Dawn. "He thought he could do good there. We talked to him, we all tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted it."

"Of course he wanted it, he thinks he's got something to make up for. Doctor, can we go back for him?"

"Go back?" the Doctor repeated absently.

"To get Andrew."

"He doesn't want to come back," Amy said. "Let the kids tell you what happened, maybe you'll understand."

Clyde touched Jack's arm, drawing him to one side as Dawn and Luke started talking. "Captain Jack? We can't go back for him, can we?"

"Why do you say that?"

"The TARDIS brought us there on purpose, but we didn't do anything special. Woke some vampires, beat some vampires, that was it. Andrew's gonna make the difference, isn't he?"

Jack glanced at Xander, listening intently to Dawn and Luke. "I'll tell you when he gets caught up," he said softly.

"You'd better."

"Vampires?" Xander said.

"Not exactly like ours, they looked different," Dawn told him. "But they were intelligent, they died with fire and stakes and Rory beheaded one."

Xander glanced over at Rory. "Really?"

"It was trying to eat me," Amy told him.

"And you took its head off?"

"Rory's a Roman Centurion," Clyde said with a grin.

"Was a Roman Centurion," Rory corrected him.

"Huh." Xander frowned. "Cool."

"Well, it makes beheading people easier," Rory agreed.

"So you taught the villagers," Xander said, turning back to Dawn.

"Yeah. But then the Doctor came through and told me about the spell – you must have told him that?"

"No." Xander glanced over at the Doctor. "What spell?"

"Look at the time! We should be going, Ponds, I've imposed on Sarah for quite long enough."

"Freeze," Sarah Jane ordered him. "Actually, everyone inside, we'll finish this in relative comfort. Why did you park out here anyway, Luke?"

"Bigger landing pad," he said apologetically. "The attic's only a tiny bit bigger than the TARDIS. I wasn't sure I could hit it just right."

"You did it earlier."

"I was a lot calmer earlier, and that was about three days, two meals and an hour and a half of sleep ago anyway."

"We should really..." the Doctor started. Sarah Jane looked up at him, and he sighed and finished grumpily, "Go inside. Come along, Ponds."

They ended up in the attic again; it really was the best room for this many people. Luke dropped beside K9, grinning, and the others found space around the room.

"Right," Xander said, settling on the arm of the couch. "You were saying about a spell?"

"Well, a warlock," Dawn corrected herself. "Grimslaw."

"Banishment spell," Connor said. "Good call, whoever it was."

"I thought it was you, Xander," Dawn said with a frown. "It really came from you, Doctor?"

"Yes."

"How did you know it?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. "I knew to tell you to use it," he said finally, "because the stories said you used it."

"That's a paradox, it's a closed circle. An ontological paradox. It's not possible."

"Of course it's possible. Who says it's not possible? Anything is possible. You did those things seven million years ago."

"A few hours ago."

"That too."

"That's insane."

"That's time travel."

"The Doctor once met a woman," Jack told her. "Sally Sparrow. She gave him a folder with different bits of information in it. A while later he was knocked back in time to 1969. The folder told him what information to leave where and when to get Sally to send the TARDIS back to him. Sally started getting all these strange messages, people were giving her things, and eventually she got the TARDIS back to him. She collected all the information in a folder. And then one day she met him in the street..."

"She met him before he met her," Clyde said slowly.

"Yes."

"No, wait," Dawn said quickly. "Sally got the messages, saved them, gave them to the Doctor when she saw him, and _then_ he was knocked back in time and sent the messages?"

"Yes," Jack said patiently. "But that's just saying the same thing in a different way. The information Sally had was a closed loop; she gave it to the Doctor and he sent it to her, and she gave it to him. You did the spell because the Doctor told you to because he knew you did it."

Dawn frowned, concentrating. "Yes," she said finally. "I think I have it, anyway. Let's move on."

"They did the spell," Luke continued. "The vampires threatening that village were gone. But there were other villages, and other groups of vampires. Andrew wanted to stay. They didn't have Slayers there but the villagers fought really well, when he showed them how."

"We tried to talk him out of it," Dawn said quietly. "We really did. We asked him to come back and tell you himself, even. But he wouldn't. He was so determined, and you know he's normally easy to sway. He wanted this."

Xander turned to look at the Doctor, one eyebrow up. "Well?"

"Well?" he repeated, in exactly the same tone.

"Andrew Wells has a legacy and a destiny that goes far beyond this planet," Xander quoted. "Care to share with the group?"

"Ah. Yes. That. Well. Jack?"

Jack grinned. "Can't take the heat, Doc?"

"No, just – testing you."

"Uh huh." He turned to Xander, still grinning. "Andrew Wells led those people to freedom. Within fifteen years of his being left there, they'd cleared the continent of vampires and he moved on. He died before the world was cleared, but his warriors kept going and within two hundred years the world was clear. They kept practising, passing his lessons on, even when they discovered space travel and moved out. They kept fighting vampires and demons wherever they came across them for thousands of years."

"Until they found a small planet in an otherwise unimportant solar system," the Doctor said quietly. "A planet occupied by demons called Old Ones."

Xander choked. "Andrew's responsible for kicking the Old Ones out?"

"At a remove, yes. His followers taught the humans here on Earth to fight, they inspired the shaman of the time to create the Slayer. Then they moved on across the galaxy."

Xander was laughing softly. "Andrew is responsible for Buffy. Oh, oh, I wanna be the one to tell her that!"

"I want to be as far away from her as possible when you tell her that," Dawn muttered.

"Jack," the Doctor said quietly. "There's a book in the library – you know the one?"

"I know it. Back in a minute. Want to come, Little Bit?"

"That's you," Rory stage whispered to Sky.

"Oh! Thank you. I like the TARDIS."

"Good taste. I approve," the Doctor said brightly.

"Sky is twelve, Doctor," Sarah Jane reminded him.

"He was going to take me when I was seven," Amy offered.

"I don't think that's helping," Rory murmured.

"Screw helping, I'm enjoying this."

"Amelia, maybe you should help Jack find the library," the Doctor suggested.

"The library runs away from me every time I go near it."

"Maybe it knows you used to doodle on your books," Rory said innocently.

"Spoilsport," she mumbled, leaning against him.

"Maria, your dad didn't come?" Sarah Jane asked softly.

"No, he said he'd stay out of this one. Luke said he'd make sure I got home again."

"Did he," the Doctor said.

"Yes," Luke said, every bit as pointed.

Jack came back, holding a small book in one hand. "Oh," he said, glancing around. "Should I go pretend it was harder to find?"

"How'd you do that so quickly?" Amy demanded.

"She likes me."

"You only want to find the library because you think the swimming pool's in it," Rory said mildly.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning on that, by the way," Jack told the Doctor.

"Entirely welcome. Did you get it?"

"Yeah." He flicked through the book, passing it over to Clyde.

Clyde scanned it for a moment, laughing. " _We fought for months, crossing the world, defeating and receiving defeats in our turn. The people cowered in fear; they needed a hero, someone to believe in, someone to lead them to their proper place..._ he does go on, doesn't he?"

"I don't get it," Connor protested.

"It's Andrew's," Luke said. Dawn took the book from Clyde, reading through it. "At least, that's the way he talks."

"It's definitely him." Dawn passed the book on to Connor, pointing at one particular passage.

Connor smiled faintly. " _My dear companions of so long ago, still alive somewhere in the future; I regret not a moment since I joined the side of Light with you. The Key, Slayers Alpha and Omega, the One who Sees, who saw me when I was nothing; the White Witch, the Bane of the Bane, the Miracle Child and all the others. My life is full of joy and wonder and I would trade it for nothing, no matter what the Dark Side_...seriously?"

"Definitely Andrew," Xander said with a grin. "What's it say, Connor?"

"That's it, just _no matter what the Dark Side might offer. My soul is my own._ " He passed the book on to Xander.

"Why'd he shout out to you?" Clyde asked. "He didn't even know you that well."

"You're just jealous," Connor said serenely. "What would he have called you, I wonder?"

Clyde sniffed, turning to Luke. "Bane of the Bane, huh?"

"I didn't even do that much," Luke said, blushing.

Xander was ignoring the byplay, reading and rereading the lines. "He wanted it," Dawn said quietly, watching him.

"Yeah. I guess he did." Xander traced his fingers over the words.

"He was a hero," Jack said softly. "He and his people saved thousands of lives. There are still Alien Slayers out there in the fifty first century; I saw them, once, when I was very young."

"Yeah? How'd they look?"

"Pretty awesome. They'd switched to – sort of Search and Rescue by then. Not so many demons or vampires left; I think the Time Lords helped with the vampires." He glanced at the Doctor, who was ignoring them in favour of playing with something from Sarah Jane's work bench.

"Not here, they didn't," Dawn pointed out.

"Well, we didn't need to, did we? Earth had people taking care of it." The Doctor glanced at his bare wrist. "Now. It really is time we were going."

"Maria's only just got here," Luke protested.

"I can get Maria back home," Jack told him. "Don't worry about it."

"Do you have to, Doctor?" Sarah Jane asked quietly.

"Things to do, people to see, Sarah. You remember." He glanced at Clyde. "Coming?"

"Not this time. Sorry. School to finish."

"Always school with you lot. You're a bad influence, Sarah."

The kids all yelled in protest and Amy laughed. "Dangerous ground there, Doctor. We should go before you get yourself in any more trouble."

"Good idea," Rory agreed. "Sarah Jane, lovely to meet you, hope to do it properly sometime."

A round of goodbyes started; Connor watched, vaguely amused, as the same people wished each other goodbye several times over. Dawn, who only had Rory and Amy to say goodbye to, extricated herself and joined him, watching as the Doctor spun in circles from person to person.

"We missed you," she murmured. "What were you doing in Washington?"

"Being bored, mostly. There's a law firm there that contracts with WH. Angel asked me to drop some stuff off to them, since I was at loose ends."

"You hate working for Wolfram and Hart."

"Yeah, but now I have work experience to put on my resume. Real work experience, not the fake stuff they were making up for me."

"Couriering?"

"He promised it was real lawyer work. Not anything to do with demons, or anything morally dubious."

"Look at you, developing a social conscience!" she said proudly, patting his arm and grinning at the look on his face.

"I know that look, that's the look of someone making fun of someone else. Tell?" Clyde draped an arm around her shoulder, smiling charmingly.

"If your girlfriend or my boyfriend see you, there'll be trouble," Dawn warned him.

"What, only for me? That's not very fair."

"I'm trustworthy."

"Oi!"

Connor glanced up as the Doctor actually made it out the door. "They're going. Do we want to go and watch?" 

 

Sarah Jane wrapped her arms around Sky, watching the TARDIS fade out. Beside her, Jack let out a slow breath. "I always kind of hate seeing it go," he murmured.

"Leaving you behind?" She smiled ruefully. "It doesn't get easier."

Sky twisted in her arms to look up. "Did you want to go?"

"I always want to go, Little Bit," Jack told her. "But there's work to do here."

"My name's Sky, Captain Harkness."

"My name's Jack, Sky."

Sarah Jane smiled, turning as Clyde, Dawn and Connor wandered out of the house. "Clyde, you should go see your mum. We told her you took Sky to visit with Luke, it was a sudden decision, and your phone wasn't working."

"There's no part of that that's actually a lie," Dawn marvelled.

"You get good at it after a while." Clyde grinned at her. "See you round." Rani headed around the house with him to say goodbye.

"I've got to check in with Ianto and Gwen," Jack said apologetically. "I'll go walk around the block, I'll be back soon."

"Be careful!" Sarah Jane called after him. "This is Bannerman Road." He waved over his shoulder at her, swinging out of the gate.

"Mum," Luke said abruptly, "Dawn and I are going up to the attic for a bit, ok? We'll be down to help with tea soon." Turning to Connor, he added, "Stick around?"

"Sure," Connor agreed. "Sky, want to show me the embarrassing pictures?"

"There's no baby photos."

"I know. But there's got to be embarrassing ones hidden somewhere."

She considered; after a moment, Sarah Jane leaned down to whisper to her, and she grinned in triumph, catching Connor's hand and dragging him inside. Maria tagged on, grinning at Luke's look.

"What did you say?" he asked warily.

"Oh, I guess you'll find out later." Sarah Jane grinned, kissing his forehead and pushing him gently towards the door. "Now go on."

Dawn was waiting on the stairs for him; smiling gently, she let him tug her up the rest of the way into the attic.

"Mr Smith, can you go off line please?" he asked politely.

"May I ask why?"

"I'm about to tell my girlfriend I love her and I would prefer not to do it in front of witnesses."

Mr Smith clicked once or twice. "I see. Well. I understand. Certainly. I shall go offline at once."

"Thank you, Mr Smith." He glanced around, smiling. "K9. What are you doing here?"

"I was retrieved to help Master contact the TARDIS."

"Right, the morse code. Can you go find my mum please?"

"You wish no witnesses?"

"No witnesses."

"Mistress Dawn is leaving also?"

"No, she's kind of integral to the whole process. Go on."

K9 trundled away. Dawn glanced at the wall concealing Mr Smith, smiling. "I think you scared him."

"Well, he tried to kill me once."

"You're kind of building up expectations here, you know."

He smiled faintly, perching on the arm of the couch. "I know. Sorry. But I'm just – I didn't mean to say it, back there, but I did mean it."

"I know you do."

He studied her for a moment, eyes shadowing. "That's all. I wanted you to know I mean it."

"I knew you meant it, that's not the issue."

"Then what's the issue?"

Dawn waited until he was squirming to smile, slowly. "No issue. I love you, too."

"You are..." He scowled for at least three seconds before grinning. "Very cruel."

"I know; I'm evil. I should really do something about that."

"You really should."

Dawn kissed him, grinning. "Not what Clyde says."

"Clyde's just jealous of my superior – mmmphh...."

 

Connor was dutifully admiring photos of Luke attempting to skate board when Luke and Dawn came into the sitting room. "Really?" Luke said with a sigh.

"What?" Sarah Jane said innocently.

"He knows I have no sense of balance, Mum. He's seen me attempt to balance on things."

"Suddenly I want to be in your fighting classes," Maria said.

"No, you really don't. They're really painful. Tell us about America!"

"Yes!" Sky agreed immediately. "What's it like? Do you see a lot of robberies? Are there cowboys? Have you ever seen real Indians? What kind of aliens have you seen? Do..."

"Sky," Sarah Jane said. "Let her answer at least one."

Maria laughed, drawing Sky away to a corner of the room to talk to her. Luke settled beside Sarah Jane, smiling as the two girls chatted.

"Everything ok?" she asked softly, watching Dawn perch sideways in Connor's lap to talk to him.

"Everything's fine, mum." He took a breath before adding, "I told Dawn I love her."

"Did you." Sarah Jane nodded slowly. "And what did she say?"

"She teased me some and then said she loves me too."

"I'm glad, Luke. She's a lovely girl."

He laughed softly. "You didn't think it'd happen."

"I thought it would eventually, but I'll admit I wasn't expecting it yet. You're still only eighteen, Luke."

"I know. It might not be forever love. And we're still not – you know, there. Not yet. But for now, it's true. And now's enough."

"Is it?"

He nodded, eyes very serious. "I thought we might die there, Mum. We woke those vampires; it was up to us to take care of them. But I really thought we might die."

"The Doctor promised me you'd be all right, but I was worried, Luke."

"I know. I'm sorry. I tried to get back just after we left, but the time travel is a lot harder than the space travel. How long was it here?"

"Two days. You?"

"Days were different on that planet – I think it was about three and a half Earth days, but it was really hard to tell." He watched Sky and Maria for a moment before saying in a lighter tone, "I really like Rory and Amy, though."

"Amy's been good for him. And I like Rory. He seems very...down to earth."

"He is. He was brilliant. What was it like having the Doctor stuck here?"

"Tiring. He's very energetic."

"I bet," Luke agreed.

"Did you really fly the TARDIS?"

"I think the TARDIS flew the TARDIS. I didn't do much but stand there. Clyde's Artron energy probably had more to do with it."

"Modest," Dawn said abruptly. Sarah Jane blinked, glancing over at her; Luke just smiled.

"She has really good hearing," he told Sarah Jane.

"Not as good as mine," Connor pointed out.

"No, you're still super special," Dawn agreed. "Who's up for food? I'm starved. The TARDIS food was weird."

"It was perfectly fine!" Luke protested. Standing, he held out a hand to heave her off Connor's lap. "Let's see what's here, then."

They passed Jack in the doorway; he dropped next to Sarah Jane, watching as Connor joined Maria and Sky in the corner. "Everything all right?" he asked softly.

"Luke's in love," she murmured.

"Well, he's eighteen, Sarah Jane."

"He's four."

"Eighteen, as you were very certain earlier. I distantly remember eighteen. And he could have picked a much worse person to fall in love with. Dawn's good for him."

"Yes." Sarah Jane smiled. "She is, isn't she." Across the room, Connor glanced up, meeting her eyes with a smile.

"You have to let him do it on his own," Jack said quietly.

"Even if he's making mistakes? Hypothetical mistakes," she added, and Jack frowned until he caught Connor's look.

"Even if. He knows a lot, but he needs to learn. This is the kind of thing you only learn by doing it."

"And he wants it," she agreed. More loudly, she added, "Right, Sky, I want to hear some of Maria's stories too. You go help in the kitchen, please, I promise we won't talk about anything exciting until you get back."

Sky went, complaining all the way, and Connor smiled distantly. "I should go."

"Where to? Aren't you staying in Washington right now?" Jack asked.

"The Slayer House will put me up. They like me over there, I can fight the Slayers on their own level. Where's Xander?"

"He's in the guest room trying to figure out how he's going to tell the others about Andrew," Sarah Jane told him.

"Did he keep the Doctor's book?"

"I think so."

"That's proof, then. No one else talks like him."

"Still, he was their friend. Or, at least, he was theirs. And he died seven million years ago twelve thousand light years away. It'll take them some time. Don't go to the Slayer House, I have room here."

"You have Luke and Maria and Dawn..."

"Room for everyone. You and Luke, Dawn and Maria. Besides, Rani would take the girls and Clyde would take Luke if we needed more room."

"And Jack?"

"There's a perfectly fine couch," she said primly, until she caught sight of his expression and laughed. "Well, we'll work something out. What about immigration, Connor?"

"Angel will take care of that, or I'll go back with Maria and it won't matter."

"Sure?"

"Yeah. It's fine. Angel likes doing things for me, and there isn't much I can let him do without the Slayers getting mad at me."

Luke and the others reappeared with trays and Sarah Jane smiled as Connor gallantly took Sky's, listening carefully as she explained exactly what was on it and who everything was for. Dawn was chatting with Maria; Luke kept trying to interject, and from his blush they were deliberately teasing him. Sarah Jane listened for a moment, heard "as a thanks, you know, for rescuing them from the space insects guys" and stopped listening again. Clyde had teased Luke for a long time over his first kiss.

But he looked happy, now, protesting more for form's sake than to stop them, and she knew out of all his friends Maria and Dawn were best placed to know when he'd had enough teasing, and they'd stop.

"Sky, run up and ask Xander to come down," she said briskly. "He should eat before he goes back to the Slayer House."

"Tell us about Torchwood, Captain Harkness!" Maria said brightly, looping an arm through Luke's to lean against his shoulder.

"Yes," Sarah Jane echoed. "Tell us about Torchwood."

Jack didn't even think about it. "Classified," he said briskly. "Tell us about Washington, Maria."

"Classified," she said sweetly. "Tell us about Wolfram and Hart, Connor."

"Ooooh, classified," he said apologetically. "Wesley'll sic something on me if I talk, and they get really upset when I kill their guys. Tell us about Oxford, Dawn!"

"Boring," she said with a sigh. "And over your head, I'm afraid. Tell us about Bannerman Road, Luke."

"I dunno. Mum, what do you think?"

"I think we should all be eating. Come on, Jack, set a good example for the kids."

"Kids!" Maria protested.

Jack smiled. "You must be starting college soon, Maria? What have you planned?"

Sky came back in, holding Xander's hand firmly and chattering to him. Xander was listening, nodding in the right places, but he glanced around the room when he came in, eyes settling on Connor. Sarah Jane deliberately looked away, focusing on Maria as she discussed courses and plans and ideas.

Connor abruptly joined in and Sarah Jane glanced up as Xander flopped down to sit on the floor on the other side of the table. Sky sat next to him, still chatting, and he was joining in, answering her or Maria as the conversations went on. Dawn was pouring tea and Luke was handing around the plate and Jack was passing her a cup, smiling as she refocused on him.

"Let it go for a minute," he murmured, almost under his breath. "Enjoy the moment. There aren't enough of them."

Connor looked up suddenly, pushing smoothly to his feet and crossing to open the front door. Luke tilted his head back to watch, grinning as Rani and Clyde wandered in; Dawn shifted to make room, pressing against him, and he slid one arm around her shoulders for balance. Clyde dropped on Maria's other side, introducing her to Rani and immediately asking about Washington and about her dad.

Sarah Jane caught Jack's eye and smiled, nodding very deliberately. There weren't enough moments like this, but she'd take this one. Grinning, she leaned forward to join the conversation.


End file.
